Commercial interior alterations in Toronto. Office and shop fit-outs.

Yes. Toronto Building lists adding or removing walls (changing room sizes or uses) among the work that needs a building permit, along with installing or modifying heating or plumbing. Its Interior Alterations (Non-Residential) guide covers interior work in an existing building where the floor area does not increase, including work that changes the use. Starting before the permit adds a City surcharge of half the permit fee, at least $214.79.

It depends on the whole building, not your unit. In a building of up to three storeys and 600 m² gross area (every floor above ground, measured to the outside walls) used only for offices, shops, personal services, homes or industry, with no restaurant, bar or other assembly or institutional use in it, the Architects Act does not require an architect. In a bigger one, the Act does not require an architect to design interior work that does not affect, and is not likely to affect, the structure, fire separations or fire safety systems, the main entrance or public corridors, exits to the outside or exterior walls, and adds no mezzanine, infill or similar floor space. Beyond that, the work needs an architect's design (or a design prepared under an architect's personal supervision and direction), with an engineer for the engineering. In a bigger building the Building Code may still call for an architect's and an engineer's general review (site reviews during construction) of interior work, which we confirm with the City for each building. Under the Building Code Act, the City's chief building official issues a permit unless, among other things, the law requires an architect's or engineer's design and the work was not so designed. We check all of this before any drawing starts.

For shops and most other suites, yes. In a Part 9 building (up to three storeys, with no floor footprint over 600 m²) the Building Code asks for a fire separation of at least 45 minutes between suites; in a larger, Part 3 building, at least 1 hour (45 minutes in some). The rule leaves out business and personal services suites such as offices, and in a sprinklered building, offices and shops served by a public corridor built to the Code's standard need no separation from each other. In a building over three storeys or 600 m² gross area (all floors above ground together, not just the footprint), work that affects or is likely to affect a fire separation falls outside the Architects Act's interior exception and needs an architect.

The Building Code counts water closets from the number of people a space is designed for. In an office (Group D) it counts one person per 14 m² of floor area, then asks for one water closet per sex for up to 9 people of that sex, two for 10 to 24 and three for 25 to 49; an office for 10 people or fewer may share one. A shop counts staff and public separately. A shop of 600 m² or less (not counting basements) needs no more than one public water closet per sex, and one of 300 m² or less, or for nine people or fewer, may share a single water closet. In a building at least five years old, if the work raises the building's occupant load by more than 15%, washrooms and ventilation must meet the new load, and the building is evaluated and its early warning and evacuation systems (how people are alerted to a fire and get out) upgraded. A smaller increase can also trigger that upgrade if the new load is more than 15% above the load at which the Code requires a fire alarm, or above the existing exit capacity.

Two things. The Building Code lists a change from an office or shop to a restaurant (Group A-2) among the changes of use that need a permit; when the alteration permit includes the new use, it covers that. And the Architects Act counts “the consumption of food or drink” as assembly: beyond interior-only work within its interior exception, the design needs an architect, or work prepared under an architect's personal supervision and direction. For a restaurant for up to 100 people in a building of up to three storeys and 600 m² gross area, an OAA Licensed Technologist may design it instead. The Building Code's general review table also lists every building with an assembly use (unless the only other use is industrial) for an architect's and an engineer's general review (site reviews during construction). Express Services do not take a change in use. Our change of use page covers the permit side.

The City of Toronto Act puts interior design, and the layout of interior areas other than certain public walkways, stairs, elevators and escalators, outside site plan control. Where an interior alteration converts space to a new use the zoning already permits, the City's by-law exempts it up to 1,000 m² of altered floor area, unless it includes a place of assembly, an entertainment place of assembly, a place of worship, a drive-through or a transportation use. The City can still require site plan approval in some cases, for example where the Official Plan calls for a road widening, or where the Chief Building Official finds safety, accessibility or entrance-access matters to secure.

Toronto's own targets, once an application is complete: an examiner's review within three days for Express Services, 15 business days in the Small Building Stream (Part 9 buildings other than houses), and in the Large & Complex Building Stream (Part 3) 20 business days for large buildings and 30 for complex ones. The City counts an application in those streams without an issued ZAP as incomplete, and incomplete applications have no time frame.