Location & Building

Probably the single most important factor in setting up your centre is your location. Being on a main or high-traffic street will be much more beneficial to your business than being on a quiet back street with very little passing trade. Nevertheless, it is not necessary to be on the ground floor of a building on the main street in town. Retail rents and rates are very high in these situations. A basement or upper floor location is perfect for a float centre which means you do not have to pay the high rent demanded by a ground floor position.

Planning Permission

Depending on the building you find, you may or may not need to get planning permission to run a float centre. You may need to apply for a “change of use.” You will also need to negotiate with the landlord, assuming you are renting, to get permission to modify the building.

The modifications needed are covered in the next section.

Unfortunately, the priorities of different planning authorities vary and so it is necessary to approach the local planning office as soon as possible. Some authorities are relaxed about floatation in a retail designated building while others will insist that half your trade be in “products” sold. Some authorities welcome change from office or light workshop designation, others oppose it. You will have to research your municipal requirements. If the planners initially oppose your scheme it may be on the grounds of parking restrictions or opening hours. You may be able to get these objections removed by showing precedence (someone nearby operating a similar business) or by appeal, but this all takes time. It is possible, though becoming less likely, that the planners will be ignorant of floatation therapy. You should always include a brief description emphasising the appointment-based system and listing other float centres in your country. It will not hurt to refer to our website or to other floatation websites in this description. The fact that many centres are now operating is an important planning factor in your favour.

Disabled Access

If yours is a new building, or if it requires modification, you must consider disabled access. This does not necessarily mean a large number of changes, but you have to have a strategy for how you will handle disabled customers, especially if you want to market the advantages of floating for disabilities. For example, you may need to provide one disabled size toilet. New corridors and doors should be wide enough (120cm/4’ and 90cm/3’), for at least one of your float rooms.

Float Pool Access

You must also consider how the float pools will get into the building. We have notes and diagrams on our website about this, but once again, sending us the floor plans before signing off on them is always a good idea!