How a clinic X-ray room is planned and built, who designs the shielding, and what the fit-out side must get right.
An X-ray room is the one room in a clinic whose walls are designed by someone other than the fit-out team. The shielding (lead-lined boards, a shielded door and a lead-glass viewing window, or plaster with barium sulfate) is set by the equipment supplier's radiation adviser for the machine and the room, under the Atomic Energy Act 1984 (Act 304). The fit-out contractor then builds the partitions, ceiling, power and aircon around that design without breaking it. ClickBina's clinic guide puts a dental clinic at RM150,000 – RM350,000 including the X-ray room (indicative 2026, Klang Valley). A site visit is RM150, waived if you go ahead.
Most clinic rooms are planned around people, plumbing and hygiene. The X-ray room is planned around the beam. Every wall, the door, the ceiling and the floor may need to stop radiation reaching the waiting area, the next surgery, the shop next door or the unit upstairs. That is why the dental clinic fit-out guide lists the imaging room as a specialist, authority-regulated item designed by the equipment supplier's radiation adviser, not something improvised on site.
For the owner this changes the order of decisions. In an ordinary room you can move a partition late in the job. In an X-ray room, moving the machine, the door or the viewing window after the walls are built can mean the shielding no longer matches the design, and the work has to be opened up and redone.
X-ray machines are irradiating apparatus. In Malaysia their use is controlled under the Atomic Energy Act 1984 (Act 304), formerly the Atomic Energy Licensing Act, which covers the regulation and licensing of irradiating apparatus. The licensing side is handled by the practice and its equipment supplier under that Act, not by the fit-out contractor. The supplier's radiation adviser works out what each wall needs from the machine, the workload and what is on the other side.
Clinics have a second approval track as well. The clinic interior design guide notes that permits for KKM and local-council approval typically add around RM3,000 – RM5,000 on top of the fit-out. Ask the supplier early which drawings and inspections the radiation side needs, so they run alongside the clinic registration instead of after it.
The lead shielding article describes the usual building method: in many facilities where radiation is produced, regulations require construction with lead-lined plywood or drywall to protect adjoining rooms from scatter radiation. The radiation protection article adds that walls around an X-ray room may contain lead sheets, or plaster containing barium sulfate, and that operators view the patient through a leaded glass window.
| Element | Usual approach | What to check on site |
|---|---|---|
| Partition walls | Lead-lined board or plywood on a stud frame, or masonry with a shielding plaster | Sheets overlap at every joint; no gaps at floor, ceiling or corners |
| Door | A shielded door and frame made for X-ray rooms | The frame is shielded too; the door closes fully; signage and warning light where the design asks for them |
| Viewing window | Lead glass between the control area and the room | Window size and position match the design; the frame overlaps the wall shielding |
| Ceiling and floor | Depends on what is above and below; sometimes the slab is enough | Ask the adviser; do not assume the false ceiling does anything |
| Penetrations | Sockets, data, aircon pipes and ducts treated so they do not leave a gap | Every hole cut after shielding goes in is checked against the design |
Lead is heavy, so lead-lined walls need a frame and fixings sized for the weight, and doors need hinges and frames to suit. The partition comparison guide explains stud-and-board walls; an X-ray wall is the same construction with a shielding layer that must be continuous.
The right order is: choose the machine, fix the room layout, get the shielding design, then draw the partitions, ceiling and services around it. Ask the supplier for a drawing that marks which walls, the door, the window and any floor or ceiling need shielding, and to what specification. That drawing is what the fit-out contractor prices and builds to.
Place the room so the control position can see the patient through the window, so staff do not walk through the room to reach other spaces, and so the door opens towards the clinical side rather than the waiting area. In a shoplot, a room against a party wall affects the neighbour too, which the adviser has to account for. A room under or over another tenancy may need floor or ceiling shielding that a ground-floor room does not.
The vet clinic fit-out guide makes the same point for animal practices: imaging rooms need appropriate shielding, which must be designed in from the start, and the power supply must be able to take the X-ray, autoclave and aircon together.
An X-ray room still needs lighting, sockets, data for the imaging system and aircon. Each of these means a cable, pipe or duct passing through or into a shielded wall or ceiling. A socket box cut into a lead-lined board, an aircon pipe sleeve or a duct opening can all leave a gap if nobody plans them. Mark every penetration on the shielding drawing before work starts, and route services through the control area or the ceiling where the adviser allows.
Fixed electrical work is carried out by a registered wireman, and the machine's own power supply is set by the supplier. Aircon pipe and condensate routes should be agreed at the same time, because moving them later means cutting the finished wall.
| Practice | Typical imaging | Fit-out notes |
|---|---|---|
| Dental clinic | Intra-oral units, often a panoramic or cone-beam room | The clinic guide lists the X-ray room in the dental clinic budget alongside chairs, compressor and sterilisation |
| GP or medical clinic | A general X-ray room where the practice offers imaging | Needs a control area and a changing space next to the room |
| Vet clinic | A shielded imaging room for animals | Planned early because it affects walls and power, as the vet guide notes |
Whichever practice it is, the machine supplier's adviser decides the shielding. The fit-out side is similar: partitions and ceilings built to the drawing, a door and window from a specialist supplier, and services planned around them.
The shielding materials, shielded door and lead glass are quoted by the specialist supplier and vary too much with the design to publish here. These ClickBina figures cover the clinic fit-out the room sits inside (indicative 2026, Klang Valley):
| Item | Indicative price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Dental clinic design and renovation, including X-ray room | RM150,000 – RM350,000 | Clinic interior design guide |
| Dental clinic, per sq ft | RM200 – RM300 per sq ft | Clinic interior design guide |
| Small GP or medical clinic | RM80,000 – RM150,000 | Clinic interior design guide |
| KKM and local-council permits | RM3,000 – RM5,000 on top | Clinic interior design guide |
| Drywall partition, double board, insulated (before any shielding layer) | RM16 – RM25 per sq ft | Partition comparison guide |
WhatsApp us your job details for a quote — we reply within the hour.
💬 WhatsApp for a quoteThe dental clinic guide gives 6–10 weeks on site and roughly 3–4 months end to end for a clinic, with dental clinics running longer because of equipment and shielding. Most of the extra time is waiting: for the machine decision, the shielding drawing, the shielded door and glass, and the inspection before the walls are closed. The commercial fit-out timeline guide sets out the stages from lease to opening.
ClickBina handles commercial renovation and fit-out works and coordinates the trades: partitions, ceilings, floors, finishes and cabinetry, with the walls, services and openings laid out to the supplier's shielding drawing. The machine, the shielding design and the shielded door and glass stay with the equipment supplier and the specialists, and ClickBina coordinates the site around them. WhatsApp us your job details for a quote: the clinic type, the unit and the rooms you need. We reply within the hour, and the price agreed is a flat price with no hidden charges. A site visit is RM150, waived if you go ahead. See also shop and clinic fit-out.
Methodology: prices are ClickBina indicative 2026 Klang Valley ranges from the guide named beside each; shielding materials, shielded doors and lead glass are not priced because they depend on the supplier's design.
WhatsApp us your job details for a quote — we reply within the hour.
💬 WhatsApp for a quoteTell us what you need — we reply within the hour.