Cat A fit-out

Guide cost, central London: £650 to £1,020 per m²
Regional cities: £490 to £820 per m²
Typical programme: 8 to 16 weeks per floor plate

Category A is the finish a landlord delivers to make a floor lettable: a clean, lit, heated and cooled open space with working toilets, ready for a tenant to add their own layout. It sits between shell and core (the bare building) and Category B (the occupier's fit-out).

There is no statutory definition. The industry reference is the British Council for Offices Guide to Specification, and most landlords and agents describe Cat A against it.

Brief a contractor

What Cat A normally includes

Floors and ceilings: Raised access floor for cabling and a suspended ceiling, or an exposed soffit finished to a good standard.
Lighting and power: LED lighting to an open-plan layout with controls, and power to the floor boxes, but not to individual desks.
Heating, cooling and ventilation: Air conditioning and fresh air sized for open-plan occupancy, commonly fan coil units or VRF, with a building management system.
Fire, toilets and core: Fire alarm and sprinklers where fitted, finished toilets and showers, lift lobbies and stairs decorated, blinds to windows.

Schedule of rates, Cat A and around it

Item	Scope	Guide cost
Cat A fit-out	Ceilings, raised floor, lighting, heating and cooling to open plan, toilets and core finishes	£650 to £1,020 per m²
Cat A "plus"	Cat A with some meeting rooms and a kitchen built speculatively	£1,020 to £1,510 per m²
Standard Cat A reinstatement	Removing a tenant's Cat B and putting the floor back to Cat A	£320 to £590 per m²
Cat B on top of Cat A	Partitions, meeting rooms, tea points, finishes and services moved to suit the layout	£1,300 to £2,150 per m²

Central London rates per m² of net internal area, Q1 2026 published guides, before VAT and fees. Cat A "plus" converted from £95 to £140 per ft². A guide, not a quote. Build a budget in the cost plan.

Getting Cat A right

Shell and core, Cat A, Cat B

Shell and core is the structure, facade, lifts, stairs, toilets in the core and main plant, with the office floors left bare. Cat A adds the finishes and services that make a floor usable by anyone. Cat B is everything that makes it usable by one particular tenant. The line between Cat A and Cat B varies from building to building, so the specification, not the label, decides what is in the price.

Design it for the occupancy you expect

Cooling, fresh air and the number of toilets are sized for a density. The BCO's 2023 guide moved its recommended design density for speculative offices from 8 m² to 10 m² per person, reduced the small power allowance per person, and asks for more outdoor air than before. A Cat A floor designed tightly to the old density can be over-specified; one designed loosely may not cope if a tenant packs desks in.

Cat A as a landlord refurbishment

Most Cat A work is not on new buildings but on tired floors between lettings, when fan coils, lighting and ceilings reach the end of their life. It is also the moment to improve the EPC rating. Under the minimum energy efficiency standard a commercial landlord in England and Wales cannot grant a new lease on a building rated below E without a registered exemption, and the government has consulted on raising that bar. Swapping fluorescent fittings for LED with controls and replacing old plant are the measures that usually move a rating most.

Cat A reinstatement at the end of a lease

Many leases require the tenant to hand back the floor in Cat A condition. That means stripping out partitions, kitchens and tenant cabling, and reinstating ceilings, lighting and raised floor to a lettable standard. See dilapidations works for how that is priced and negotiated.

Where our information comes from

Cost ranges are typical figures from published UK cost guides and price guides, read November 2026, given before VAT. Firms that publish them are not named.

Floor area, the date the floor must be lettable and any survey you hold: that is enough to start.

Brief a contractor

How the work gets done

How a Cat A refurbishment of an existing floor normally runs.

Condition survey
Plant life, ceiling and floor condition, asbestos in the areas to be disturbed, EPC and fire strategy checked.
Specification
The Cat A standard written down: ceiling and lighting type, cooling system, floor void, toilets, and the density it is designed for.
Strip and rebuild
Strip-out, services first fix, raised floor and ceilings, plant installed, then finishes and decoration.
Commission and hand over
Air and water balancing, controls set up, fire alarm cause and effect tested, building control completion and O&M manuals.

Cat A questions

What is a Cat A fit-out?

The landlord-level finish of an office floor: suspended ceilings, raised floor, lighting, heating, cooling and fresh air to open plan, fire systems and finished toilets. It makes the floor lettable without fitting it out for any one tenant.

How much does Cat A cost per m²?

Published central London guides put Cat A at £650 to £1,020 per m² before VAT and fees. In regional cities expect roughly 20 to 28% less. Replacing main plant or adding a new reception sits above that.

What is the difference between Cat A and Cat B?

Cat A makes the floor usable by anyone; Cat B makes it work for one occupier, with partitions, meeting rooms, kitchens, furniture and branding. See Cat B fit-out.

What is Cat A plus?

A Cat A floor with some Cat B elements built in advance, typically a kitchen, a few meeting rooms and sometimes furniture, so a smaller tenant can move in quickly. Landlords use it to let floors faster.

Who pays for Cat A?

Normally the landlord, as part of preparing a floor for letting. Tenants pay for Cat A when the lease requires them to reinstate it at the end of the term.

Keep reading

Cat B fit-out
The occupier's layer.
Dilapidations works
Reinstating Cat A at lease end.
M&E services
Heating, cooling, ventilation and power.
Cost plan
Budget a Cat A floor by area and region.

Brief a contractor on a Cat A floor

Three short steps: where the building is, what the scope is, and who to speak to. Rough answers are fine; a contractor firms them up on a site visit.

Your brief stays with us until you approve the independent commercial refurbishment contractor we name for your building.

Where is the building?

Postcode of the building