Retail Fit-Out Cost Management: Homebase to The Range, Upton

SPD’s role

Cost management on a fast-track retail conversion

This retail fit-out cost management case study shows how Syndicate Property Development (SPD) provided cost management on the conversion of the former Homebase in Upton, Wirral, into a new The Range superstore, working alongside the fit-out contractor, CDS Group.

With an eight-week programme and a fixed public opening date, there was no room for cost creep or delay. Our job was to set a reliable budget before work started, then keep the project tracking against it all the way to handover.

The brief

Convert the store to The Range brand standards in eight weeks

The new store reuses much of what Homebase built: the front-of-house mezzanine that gives the sales floor an upper level, the garden centre, and the back-of-house offices and staff welfare areas.

Around them, the refit strips out the old Homebase branding, shelving, tills, flooring, lighting and signage, and replaces it all with modern fittings to The Range brand requirements. Refit and stock merchandising had to be complete in eight weeks, from 31 March to the public opening on 22 May 2026.

CDS Group Ltd, the incumbent fit-out contractor delivering The Range stores across the UK and Northern Ireland, carried out the works.

The challenge

Two programmes, one building, eight weeks

As part of the landlord’s works, the building was also getting a new roof. Both programmes had to run at the same time, on the same site, without one holding up the other.

Our approach

How we kept cost and programme under control

• Pre-construction surveys and in-depth cost analysis set a plan that could be tracked against the strict limits of the programme and budget. This is the same groundwork behind our estimating and tendering service.
• Fixed-cost agreements with suppliers and key trade partners gave cost and programme certainty and reduced the risk of cost creep or delay.
• Planned logistics and a closely managed deployment of trades kept the refit coordinated around the roof works.
• A controlled supply chain: CDS’s own manufacturing divisions supply shelving, racking and internal doors, and long-running supplier partnerships keep the specification consistent with The Range’s needs.

Where a client needs time and quality managed as well as cost, our project management team works alongside our quantity surveyors, or we deliver the whole job as a turnkey solution.

Technical and compliance

Built to current regulations, and more energy efficient

The refit was designed and managed to comply with the Building Regulations in force at the time of the works and with the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. The new roof improves the building’s thermal performance, reducing heat loss and the store’s carbon footprint.

The outcome

On programme and within budget

Careful planning, fixed-cost agreements and close management of the trades meant the store was delivered within the eight-week programme for its public opening on 22 May 2026, and within budget.

The working relationship between client, contractor, supply chain and cost manager supports the continued roll-out of The Range across the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. See more of our commercial projects or browse our other case studies.