Frontage, shop depth and rentable area
In a plaza, the street front is the most valuable strip you own. Narrow, deep shops let you fit more units along the frontage, but very deep shops feel dark and rent poorly at the back. Your architect should show you a few shop widths and depths side by side, with the rentable area and number of units for each, so you can choose with numbers in front of you rather than guesswork.
Upper floors earn less than the ground floor, so the design should make them easy to reach and easy to find. A visible entrance lobby, a wide stair and a lift close to the entrance help office and upper-floor shop tenants far more than an expensive facade does.
- Ask for an area schedule that separates covered, common and rentable area
- Keep corridors short; long dead-end corridors waste area and fail fire checks
- Decide early whether upper floors are offices, shops or flats, because each needs a different core
Parking, lifts, fire exits and services
Parking is often the deciding factor in whether a plaza design is approved and whether tenants stay. The approving authority sets parking requirements based on use and area, and a basement ramp can eat a surprising share of a small plot. Your architect should test the parking layout early, not after the floor plans are fixed.
Lifts, stairs and fire exits sit in the core, and the core decides how efficient each floor will be. Fire exits must be reachable from every unit within the limits the authority and fire safety rules set, so the position of the second stair matters. Plan space for a generator, transformer or meter room, water tanks, solar panels on the roof and shafts for future air-conditioning, because tenants will add them anyway.
- Separate meters per unit, with a dedicated meter room that utility staff can access
- Space on the roof or facade for outdoor air-conditioning units, kept out of sight
- Toilets on every floor, with a clear plan for who cleans and maintains them
Commercialisation, approvals and phasing
Before any design work, confirm that the plot is commercial or can be commercialised. In Lahore, plots on certain notified roads can be converted from residential use by paying a commercialisation fee to the authority, while plots in DHA, Bahria Town and private societies follow their own planning office rules. Ask your architect to check the plot's status with the relevant office and to confirm height, covered area and setback limits directly with them.
Many owners build in phases: ground and first floor now, upper floors later. If you plan this, the structure, lift shaft, stair and water tank must be designed for the final height from day one. It costs more at the start but saves you from breaking a working building later.