Opening / Renovation Food Service Establishments

What you need to know before you begin

Please read the City of Winnipeg’s Construction and Design Criteria (PDF). This guide will assist you to understand the criteria required to construct or renovate a food service establishment. This information will be useful when you begin to design your establishment.

Before any work commences, design plans must be submitted to the City of Winnipeg’s Plan Approval Division at Unit 31- 30 Fort Street. For more information please visit their website at http://www.winnipeg.ca/ppd/planx.stm.

The plan examiners review the plans for all these types of buildings. Compliance to the appropriate building, electrical, plumbing/mechanical codes, standards and by-laws must be met before a permit is issued to commence construction. All this is for the protection and safety of the general public.

Applicants submit their plans to the Planning, Property and Development Department. These plans are then circulated to various city branches involved in the permit process. One of these branches is the Plan Examination Branch which consists of two components: housing and commercial.

With expertise in fire protection, structural, electrical and plumbing/mechanical, the plan examiners examine and check plans and specifications to ensure compliance to the requirements of the appropriate codes as regulated by the City of Winnipeg Building By-law. Plan examiners include professional engineers and engineering technologists.

Reviewing plans is not that easy. Plan examiners must have ‘expert’ knowledge of codes and standards, know what to check for and know how to read plans. But the most important aspect in the review of plans is the ability to exercise sound judgment in the application of the codes and standards.

The Plan Examination Branch has developed numerous brochures to assist the public in their efforts to obtain a permit. These brochures can be found in this web site or in the kiosks located outside the office of the Zoning and Permits Branch, Unit 31 - 30 Fort Street.