CO-OP retail refurbishment programme: ceilings, partitions and dry lining across five stores

The Co-operative Group operates a national estate of convenience stores, delivering a consistent brand format across its retail portfolio. Eastledge has supported The CO-OP's nationwide rollout across five locations: Swinton and Swallownest in South Yorkshire, Desford in Leicestershire, Matlock in Derbyshire, and the new store at the University of Leicester. The delivered scope across the programme includes suspended ceiling systems, partition walls, taping and jointing, fire curtains and dry lining.

Each store was delivered as part of the same nationwide programme, with the trade scope matched to the requirements of the individual site.

The programme

Convenience retail fit-out is a well-defined specification category. The ceiling in a food retail environment carries a functional brief: clean, bright, maintainable, and capable of integrating a full services grid at the individual tile level. The CO-OP convenience format uses a consistent specification across its store estate, and the contractor's role is to deliver that specification accurately within the shell at each location.

Repeat delivery across a retail estate requires a contractor who can set out, coordinate and install the required package consistently at each site. At Swinton, Desford, Matlock and Swallownest, Eastledge's scope included suspended ceilings, partitions and taping and jointing. At the University of Leicester, the confirmed scope was dry lining for the new store.

At the existing-store sites, installation was scheduled around the store's trading hours, with dust control in place and a clean-down routine completed before the store opened to trading each morning.

Swinton, South Yorkshire

CO-OP Swinton is a convenience store in Swinton, South Yorkshire, serving the local community across a food and ambient convenience range. Eastledge installed suspended grid ceilings throughout the store — sales floor, service areas and back-of-house accommodation — with the ceiling tile specification matching the CO-OP convenience format's light reflectance and appearance requirements.

Grid layout was set out ahead of installation, with lighting track positions, ventilation terminal locations and refrigeration circuit drop positions coordinated with the M&E contractor before a single hanger was fixed. Internal partition walls divided back-of-house accommodation from the sales floor, with the partition heads detailed to the ceiling grid throughout. Taping and jointing was completed on plasterboard surfaces within the fit-out scope. Fire curtains were installed at the required positions within the store layout, coordinated with the partition and ceiling programme.

Installation was scheduled around the store's trading hours throughout.

Desford, Leicestershire

CO-OP Desford is a convenience store in Desford, Leicestershire. Eastledge delivered the same suspended ceiling, partition and taping and jointing package as the wider programme, with ceiling grid layout coordinated with the M&E services positions before installation and the installation schedule managed around the store's trading operation.

Matlock, Derbyshire

CO-OP Matlock is a convenience store in Matlock, Derbyshire — in Eastledge's home county, close to our Derby base. The fit-out scope followed the programme specification: suspended grid ceilings installed throughout, with the ceiling grid set out and coordinated with the M&E services layout before installation commenced, and partitions and taping and jointing delivered within the same programme.

Swallownest, South Yorkshire

CO-OP Swallownest is a convenience store in Swallownest, South Yorkshire. Eastledge delivered the suspended ceilings, partitions and taping and jointing to the same CO-OP programme specification, coordinating ceiling grid layout with the M&E services plan and scheduling installation around the store's daily trading operation.

University of Leicester

The new CO-OP store at the University of Leicester joined the nationwide rollout in August 2026. Eastledge delivered the dry lining for the new retail interior.

Programme delivery

Rolling retail refurbishment across a store estate is most consistent when the required trade package is delivered to the same programme standard at each location. The University of Leicester dry-lining package extends Eastledge's work on the rollout into a fifth store.

Across the programme, a consistent interior finish reflects a predictable delivery model. The scope varies by store, from ceilings and partitions to the dry lining delivered at the University of Leicester, while remaining part of the same national rollout.

For more on our retail ceiling and fit-out work, see the retail sector page, the suspended ceilings service page, and the shop fit-out service page. For more on our dry lining work delivered as part of retail programmes, see the dry lining service page.

For a city-specific retail route, see shop fit-out in Manchester.