Fitting Out a Light Industrial or Creative Studio Space in the Inner West? What Your Power Supply Actually Needs to Handle

What does your power supply actually need to handle if you are fitting out a light industrial or creative studio space in the Inner West? It comes down to what your equipment actually draws, not just how big the room is. A pottery kiln, a woodworking dust extractor, a screen printing dryer or a small batch fabrication setup can each pull more current at start up than they do running, and the way your switchboard and supply are sized has to account for that properly rather than just adding up nameplate ratings.

⚡ Quick Answers: Light Industrial and Studio Fitouts

• Do I need three phase power for a workshop or studio? Not always. Many kilns, extraction fans and small machines run happily on single phase, but larger kilns, welding equipment and some woodworking machinery genuinely need three phase to run properly.
• How is the supply actually sized for a new tenancy? Through a non-domestic maximum demand calculation, which uses load groups and diversity factors rather than simply adding up every appliance's full rated current.
• Does floor area alone tell you what size supply you need? It gives a useful early estimate before the fitout is finalised, but the equipment list still needs checking against it once you know what's actually going in.
• Are safety switches different in a commercial or industrial tenancy? Yes. Non-domestic premises have a narrower mandatory safety switch scope than a home does, which is one reason an old industrial unit can look "unsafe" by residential standards without actually breaching the rules that apply to it.
• Can I just plug in a kiln or welder wherever there's a powerpoint? No. Equipment like this needs its own properly sized circuit, and welding equipment in particular has its own demand calculation separate from general power.

1. Why a converted industrial unit is not a blank canvas

The old warehouses, workshops and light industrial buildings scattered through Marrickville, Alexandria and the St Peters fringe were built for a completely different era of tenant, and the existing switchboard and supply were sized for whatever business was in there decades ago, not for a modern ceramics studio, a small print workshop or a fit out gym with heavy equipment. Before signing a lease or committing to a layout, it is worth finding out what supply the building actually has, because retrofitting a bigger connection into an existing industrial strata building can be a genuinely slower and more expensive job than doing the same work in a purpose built commercial unit.

2. How the supply gets sized properly

Under AS/NZS 3000's non-domestic maximum demand method, your submain and switchboard sizing is based on load groups and diversity factors rather than simply adding up the full rated current of every machine, light and powerpoint circuit. In practice this means an electrician works through your actual equipment list, groups it sensibly, and applies the appropriate demand allowance to each group before sizing the incoming supply. A separate floor area based method exists as a quick early estimate for shops and light industrial tenancies before the fitout detail is locked in, which is genuinely useful for a rough budget conversation with your landlord, but it still needs checking against the real equipment list once you have one.

3. Kilns, extraction and the equipment that catches people out

A ceramics or glass kiln draws a steady, predictable load once it is up to temperature, but the initial heat up period and the circuit protection needed for it still has to be sized correctly, and a lot of older buildings simply do not have a circuit rated for it without work. Dust extraction and compressed air equipment common in woodworking and fabrication studios add their own starting current spikes on top of whatever else is running, and screen printing dryers, film processing gear and small batch manufacturing equipment all have the same issue: the steady state rating on the nameplate is not the whole story for how the circuit needs to be protected and sized.

4. What welding and fabrication equipment specifically requires

If your studio or workshop includes any arc or resistance welding equipment, this gets its own demand calculation rather than being lumped in with general power. An individual welding machine is generally assessed at its full rated primary current, and where there is more than one machine, the rules apply a stacking allowance (the two largest machines counted close to full current, with smaller allowances added for additional machines) rather than simply adding every machine's full rating together. This matters for a shared workshop or a studio with more than one tenant running equipment, since it changes what size the supply genuinely needs to be.

5. Safety switches on a commercial or light industrial tenancy

Non-domestic premises have a narrower mandatory safety switch scope than a home does, which is a genuine difference from the residential rules covered in some of our other Inner West posts. This does not mean a workshop or studio is less safe by design. It means the compliance benchmark is different, and an older industrial tenancy that looks bare by residential safety switch standards can still be entirely compliant for its actual use, right up until the day the switchboard is altered or replaced, which then triggers an upgrade under the current rules.

6. Single phase, three phase and what actually needs it

Plenty of creative studios run entirely on single phase: photography and film studios, most textile and print workshops, and smaller kilns all fall into this category. Three phase becomes necessary for larger kilns, most serious woodworking machinery, welding equipment above a certain size, and anything with a genuinely large motor. If you are not sure which category your planned equipment falls into, it is worth getting this checked before you lease a specific unit, since moving from single to three phase in an existing strata industrial building can mean upgrading the building's own supply, not just your tenancy's board.

7. Budgeting for the fitout electrical work realistically

The floor area estimate is a fine starting point for an early budget conversation, but the final number depends on your actual equipment list, whether the building already has spare capacity, and whether any of your equipment (kilns, welders, larger extraction systems) needs its own dedicated, properly protected circuit. Getting a proper assessment before signing a lease, rather than after, avoids the situation where the fitout budget blows out because the building's existing supply simply cannot support what the business actually needs.

How High Demand Electrical helps

We are a licensed local team working across the Inner West's older industrial buildings, not a call centre reading from a script, and we know the practical difference between a floor area estimate and what a studio or workshop's actual equipment list requires. We assess the existing supply and switchboard, work through the demand calculation properly for kilns, extraction, welding and workshop machinery, and tell you honestly before you sign a lease whether the building can support your fitout or whether the landlord needs to be part of that conversation. We service creative and light industrial tenants across Marrickville, Alexandria, St Peters and the surrounding Inner West.

Light Industrial and Studio Fitout FAQs (Sydney)

Do I need three phase power for a pottery or ceramics studio?

Smaller kilns often run on single phase, but larger kilns typically need three phase. It depends on the kiln's rated power, which your supplier can confirm before you commit to a space.

How much does it cost to upgrade an old industrial unit's supply?

It depends heavily on whether the building's own supply has spare capacity or needs upgrading as well as your tenancy board, which is exactly why a proper assessment before signing a lease matters. See does a commercial property need a larger three phase supply for how that decision gets made.

Is a shared industrial building's switchboard different from a single tenancy's?

Yes, particularly where several units share a common supply. See how strata committees should plan a main switchboard replacement for the shared infrastructure side of this.

Are safety switches compulsory in a light industrial tenancy?

The mandatory scope is narrower than for a home, but any circuit that gets altered or replaced still needs to meet current requirements. See electrical safety inspection for a full check of an existing tenancy.

Can I run a welder and a kiln off the same supply?

Sometimes, but each needs its own correctly sized and protected circuit, and the combined demand has to be calculated properly rather than assumed. This is exactly the kind of detail worth checking before you finalise a fitout layout.

Get Your Studio or Workshop Fitout Assessed

Planning a light industrial or creative studio fitout in the Inner West? Get a fitout design and supply assessment quote or call 0402 559 777. Every fitout starts with a site assessment, since the right supply size depends on your building's existing capacity and your actual equipment list, not a generic estimate.

This fitout angle sits alongside our existing look at converting a warehouse or loft into a home (the residential side of the same older industrial buildings), opening a cafe or restaurant in the Inner West (the hospitality fitout side), and our guide to new machinery tripping a commercial supply, which covers what happens when equipment is added to an existing tenancy rather than planned in from the start. For the pole fed side of a light industrial property on a private supply, see HD Power Pole's guide to whether a private power pole can handle three phase.