Opening a Business in a Spanish Warehouse: Permit Checks

A Spanish warehouse does not come with a universal permission to operate any business inside it. The approval route depends on the proposed activity, location, processes, equipment and existing status. Establish that route before the company commits to an acquisition or a move date.

Separate the work into three decision points: before taking the premises, before construction and before starting operations. Each requires different evidence. This is more effective than putting a single item called opening licence into the project programme and assuming it covers everything.

Describe the operation well enough to assess it

Give the local technical adviser details of processes, goods, storage quantities, machinery, power demand, staffing, hours, deliveries and relevant waste, noise, emissions or discharges. Include customer-facing and office functions. An economic activity code is useful context, but it is not a substitute for the physical description.

Collect the previous operator's available records and compare them with the proposed use. Identify whether this is a continuation, modification or new activity. The distinction should be supported by facts and documents, not just the description used in the sale agreement.

These questions belong in the industrial-property acquisition review. Where compatibility is uncertain, ask the legal team how that uncertainty should affect the commitment to buy or lease.

Keep planning and environmental procedures distinct

Planning review addresses the use and proposed building interventions. Environmental review considers the process and its relevant impacts under the applicable framework. The workstreams may share information while still requiring different decisions.

For a territorial example, Catalonia's Law 20/2009 establishes different environmental intervention regimes according to the activity. The team should assess the relevant annexes and conditions in the Environmental Prevention and Control Act.

This explains why a simple change in company name and a change from storage to production need different analysis. Concentrate on what changes inside the property: materials, capacity, equipment, emissions, occupancy and distribution.

Understand declaration and notification routes

A declaración responsable is a declaration of compliance supported by the required documentation, not permission to complete that compliance later. Article 69 of Law 39/2015 addresses declarations, notifications and administrative checking.

In Catalonia, certain activities use the notification route in Law 18/2020 with a technical certificate and, where required, a project. See Article 32 and the applicable annex. This is a regional example, not a single opening procedure for Spain.

Ask the adviser to state what must be complete before filing, what supports the filing and which prior procedures remain necessary. A short online form can sit at the end of a substantial technical preparation process.

Build an evidence-based approvals programme

Give every item an owner, due date and status. Submitted, approved where required, certified and registered are different states. The programme should make dependencies visible to the business, especially where a decision sits outside the construction contractor's control.

Keep a version record of the operating brief. If the company changes machinery or storage capacity during procurement, the advisers need to know. Otherwise the documents may describe a smaller or different operation from the one being installed.

Include equipment and fire documentation

Prepare a schedule of building and process installations. Ask the team to identify requirements for the particular electrical, refrigeration, pressure or other systems involved. Allocate preparation and delivery of documents to the relevant parties rather than expecting the general builder to produce everything.

The industrial fire assessment should address Royal Decree 164/2025 and the establishment's circumstances. The fire-safety review guide explains how existing status and proposed changes affect the enquiry.

Coordinate the conclusions with the warehouse refit scope. A condition that changes layout or services belongs in the design and budget before incompatible packages are procured.

If a landlord delivers the shell or existing installations, ask exactly which records will be supplied and which obligations remain with the occupier. Put those deliverables into the project schedule. An assumption that the landlord has all the permits can conceal a gap between the base building and the tenant-specific operation, especially when equipment and internal fit-out arrive under separate contracts.

Set an opening date around the controlling dependencies

Imagine a company moving into a unit previously used for simple storage and adding product processing, refrigeration and a larger workforce. The old file is helpful evidence, but it does not settle the new operation. The office refurbishment may be the most visible work while equipment commissioning controls the actual opening.

Work backwards from operation: tests, equipment installation, documented readiness, construction and design. Add the external dependencies identified by advisers, such as a supply upgrade or prior administrative step. Do not promise an opening solely because a builder can finish the physical works by that date.

For a new facility, connect the programme with the industrial construction brief. Where the operation also has a public-facing business area, consider the commercial-premises questions alongside industrial requirements.

You can submit the location and proposed business activity with the premises status and whether this is a new establishment, relocation, expansion or ownership change. That operational context is the starting point for a meaningful approvals review.