Open display niches look simple on a drawing: a recess, a shelf, a lit backdrop. On site they sit at the junction of joinery, wall build-up, services and finishes, which is exactly where problems appear if nobody wrote them down first. An installation plan is that written record. Below is what we ask project teams to settle before Santerson Open Display Niches leave the factory, so the unit arrives ready for the wall it was designed for.

1. Measured drawings, not nominal ones

Every niche is made to measure, so the plan starts with field measurements of the actual opening: width, height and depth taken at several points, plus out-of-plumb and out-of-square readings for the surrounding wall. A 10 mm deviation across a two-metre run changes how a frame sits and where packing shims are needed.

• Overall opening dimensions and the tolerance band you are prepared to accept on site.
• Setting-out level and datum line, referenced to the finished floor rather than the structural slab.
• Clearances for skirting, architraves, cornices or adjacent cabinetry that must be cut around.
• Access route from the delivery point to the room, including lift size, stair turns and door widths.

2. Wall build-up and fixing method

A niche fixed into timber stud behaves differently from one fixed into masonry or a steel-frame partition. State the substrate in the plan, along with the fixings it will receive and who supplies them. Where a niche is set into a clad or panelled wall, note how the panel edge is trimmed and finished, because that detail decides whether the reveal reads as designed joinery or as a cut on site.

For larger built-in arrangements, the niches are usually one element of a wider composition. Our Santerson Full Height Storage Walls are designed in the same collection logic, so display openings, closed storage and full-height panels can be drawn, manufactured and installed as one coordinated set instead of three separate trades competing for the same wall.

3. Lighting and services coordination

Lit niches fail most often because the electrician worked from a different drawing than the joiner. The plan should show driver position, cable drops, switch or dimmer location, and whether the tape or fitting is supplied with the unit or by others. Drivers need to stay reachable: once a niche is sealed, a failed driver becomes a demolition job.

• Cable route and terminal position relative to the niche frame, marked on the setting-out drawing.
• Transformer or driver location with an access panel, sized for a hand, not just a screwdriver.
• Switching arrangement — wall switch, sensor, or feed from an existing circuit.
• Confirmation of who supplies and installs the lighting: joinery contractor or electrical contractor.

4. Material, finish and use assumptions

Record the selected material and finish on the plan and have the client sign it off before production. Shelf depth and spacing should follow what will actually be displayed — ceramics, books, art objects and glassware need different depths and different load allowances. In wet or humid rooms, the specification is a separate conversation: our Niche Shelving in the open shelving range is drawn for residential bathroom projects, where material choice and clearances are set per project rather than taken from a standard catalogue size.

5. Sequence, responsibilities and handover

The plan names the order of work: wall build-up complete, first fix services signed off, finishes complete, then joinery installed. It also names who does each step. Ambiguity here is what causes a niche to be installed before painting, or after floor covering has been laid and protected.

• Install date window, tied to the trades that must finish beforehand.
• Storage location on site between delivery and installation, dry and off the ground.
• Protection method for adjacent finishes during installation.
• Snag list process and sign-off sheet at handover.

6. What to attach to the plan

A plan that travels well comes with the drawings and decisions behind it: setting-out elevations for each wall, a finish schedule keyed to every visible surface, the lighting layout, and a note of any site condition that changes the fixings. When those items are in one document, quotations compare like for like and the factory does not have to guess.

If you are specifying display niches as part of a villa or hospitality fit-out, send us the wall elevations and the intended use of each opening. We will confirm dimensions, material and finish options, and return a proposal built around your installation sequence — see our built-in furniture range for the collections these pieces are drawn from.