Commercial Tenant Improvements in Burnaby

Commercial tenant improvements are filed in person

Burnaby has moved most permit applications online, with one notable exception: restoration and commercial tenant improvement applications are excluded from the portal and must be applied for in person at City Hall.

You bring three complete sets of drawings, the documents, and the application fee. Originals must be signed, sealed and dated. Permits themselves are now issued digitally — the asymmetry catches people out.

Fast track or full review, and you do not choose

Burnaby operates two lanes for tenant improvements, and a plan checker decides which one you are in. The gate is not just your project — it is the building.

Applications will not qualify for fast tracking where the building is not in substantial compliance with the building code. They also drop out of fast track if the work involves exterior alterations, floor additions, structural changes, or needs Fraser Health approval.

This is worth understanding before you sign: an older building with existing compliance problems puts your straightforward fit-out into the slower lane, through no fault of your design.

Preliminary Plan Approval is being retired

Historically, a change of use in Burnaby went through Preliminary Plan Approval — required for changing the use of a business, changing floor area use, adding restaurant seats, increasing occupant load, or adding a mezzanine.

The City stopped accepting new PPA applications after 30 June 2026, and is replacing it with the Development Permit framework: for some projects a development permit will now be required before a building permit can be submitted or issued.

If your project involves a change of use, confirm the current route with Burnaby Planning before you plan a timeline around it. Guidance published before mid-2026 still refers to PPA.

Restaurants: thirty is the number that matters

Burnaby classifies a food service establishment with an occupant load of thirty or fewer as a business and personal services occupancy, with a one-hour fire separation that is waived in a fully sprinklered building. Above thirty, it becomes an assembly occupancy, with different washroom provision and different requirements throughout.

The City also states plainly that where a new restaurant moves into an existing building, the building may have to be reclassified and upgraded to current codes. That is a base-building cost arriving on a tenant’s project.

Fees, and starting early

Fees are based on the value of construction, with an application fee of 20% of the estimated permit fee payable up front and non-refundable. Burnaby’s Building Bylaw is unambiguous about starting early: the permit fee is doubled for every application where construction has started before the permit is issued.

Re-inspection fees escalate sharply — each failed re-inspection costs substantially more than the last — so a first inspection you are genuinely ready for is worth waiting a week for. Permits become void if construction has not started within 90 days.

Fraser Health first

Food service, personal services, recreational water facilities and childcare all need Fraser Health approval, with plans reviewed and stamped by a Fraser Health inspector. It is a prerequisite, and it also removes your application from the fast-track lane — both worth building into the schedule at the start.

Every municipality runs this differently and the details change. The way to find out what your project actually involves in Burnaby is to look at the unit before you commit to it: occupant load, exiting, washroom count, ceiling height, and what the existing mechanical and electrical will support.

We do that as a unit feasibility check, and act as the owner's agent on the permit application afterwards, so the city communication and the drawings sit in one place. A registered architect reviews the design for compliance with the building code and the local bylaw, and provides sign and seal where the project requires it.