‘Office fit out’ and ‘office refurbishment’ are interchangeable terms, however, there are a few key differences that set them apart. If you’re planning to move workplaces or update your current interiors, these are important to identify.
To fully understand your office transformation, you’ll need to begin by knowing the jargon.
Define: Office Refurbishment
An office refurbishment is an existing space that needs renovating, revamping, transforming, upgrading – whatever you want to call it. It typically involves a lot of work to strip out the space’s existing interior features. Then, a new design can be implemented. Our commercial designers focus on the details in our refurbishment projects to ensure your office accurately reflects your business’s values, as well as your unique culture of working.
Define: Office Fit Out
An office fit out begins with a blank space. This blank space (which you might see referred to as a ‘shell’) needs transforming into a fully furnished and functional workspace. The process behind this involves everyone, from commercial designers to subcontracts and fitters. Luckily, at Gravity Office Interiors, we offer all these services in-house. It’s key to delivering high quality, end-to-end fit out services and helps to maintain perfect project control.
Types of Office Fit Out
Your office fit out can be broken down further into four main categories:
Shell & Core Fit Out
A shell and core fit out involves basic construction within your building. Think of essential architectural features such as the concrete you stand on, metal or timbre pillars for structure support, main electrical systems as well as any water systems.
CAT A Fit Out
CAT A (category A) fit outs are typically requested by landlords to ensure that their office is ready for tenants to move in. The building space is stripped back so that businesses can furnish their new workspace as they want.
Typical CAT A fit out works can include the installation of:
- Commercial flooring
- Suspended ceilings
- Toilet and washrooms systems
- Raised access flooring
CAT A+ Fit Out
CAT A+ (category A+) fit outs fall into a middle ground between CAT A and CAT B offices. This type of work is favourable to landlords with coworking spaces or larger buildings as they can then sell their space to potential tenants who are able to move into their new office right away. Whilst the workplace won’t be bespoke to their company, it can save them a lot of time, money and resources.
CAT B Fit Out
CAT B (category B) fit outs are typically requested by a company in order to furnish their CAT A office. Much like a refurbishment, this involves office design and space planning, decoration schemes and furniture installation. After a CAT B fit out, the office will be ready to move into.
Alongside office refurbs, a large portion of our clientele require CAT B fit outs, with works that include:
- Fully fitted kitchens and non-communal office amenities
- Partitioning for meeting rooms, offices and breakout spaces
- Installation of IT infrastructure and workstations
- Soft furnishings
- Airconditioning, heating and power points
- Non-communal staff facilities
- Design and brand detailing.
Traditional Construction vs Design & Build
Now you know the type of office fit out you need, it’s time to embark on your journey to a workplace you can be proud of. There are two main routes of procurement you can take: Traditional (Design-Bid-Build) or Design and Build (D&B). Let’s explore both options further.
Traditional Procurement
Take matters into your own hands. This process involves directly managing a commercial interior designer, contractors, electrician and so forth – from different companies. Whilst is initially it may seem like a large task to take on, some businesses like the control this method allows them to have over their project.
Design and Build
If you prioritise efficiency, then a design and build route is perfect for you. As the name suggests, this involves a contracting team who offer the full package: the design, specification and build of your new workplace.
Traditional Procurement
Take matters into your own hands. This process involves directly managing a commercial interior designer, contractors, electrician and so forth – from different companies. Whilst is initially it may seem like a large task to take on, some businesses like the control this method allows them to have over their project.
Design and Build
If you prioritise efficiency, then a design and build route is perfect for you. As the name suggests, this involves a contracting team who offer the full package: the design, specification and build of your new workplace.
How Much Does an Office Fit Out Cost
A huge factor in any business decision is financing. The overall cost of your office fit out will depend on a few factors such as the size of your premises and the services you want completed.
Luckily, we can offer a unique indicative cost for your project. Using our cost calculator, you can gather better cost certainty for pitch meetings or larger team discussions. Simply enter your room dimensions, select a popular interior theme and submit. A member of our team will then shortly be in touch to confirm your exact requirements and finalise your quote.
For more information as well as budgeting tips, read our guide to financing your office fit out.
From Concept to Completion
At Gravity Office Interiors, we manage every stage of your office fit out in-house. This means you could be saving yourself a lot of time and energy organising multiple contractors, suppliers and budgets, instead of focusing on what’s important – your business.
By offering full fit out services from concept to completion, we can invest our time and care into ensuring your new office is perfect. It also makes for better communication between our teams, making sure that we not only nail your office design, but make product decisions that are continually qualified with your financial requirements.
Of course, we still value traits from traditional procurement methods. We encourage full client involvement throughout every stage of your office fit out or refurbishment, so you still maintain control over your project – just minus a large headache that comes with project management.
For more information on your new office space, please contact our team.
Do you need help with your office fit out? Download our Office Fit Out Guide 2023 for more information, from planning to design details.
