Cat B fit-out
- Standard, central London
- £1,300 to £2,150 per m²
- Premium, central London
- £2,350 to £4,100 per m²
- Typical programme
- 8 to 14 weeks on site
Category B is the fit-out that turns a Cat A floor into an office for one organisation: meeting rooms, focus rooms, kitchen and breakout space, reception, storage, finishes, furniture and the services moved to match the layout.
It is usually paid for by the tenant, sometimes helped by a landlord contribution or rent-free period, and it is where most of the cost, and most of the choice, sits.
What a Cat B scope usually covers
- Rooms and partitions
- Meeting rooms, quiet rooms and offices in plasterboard or glazed demountable partitions. Glazed systems run £80 to £180 per m² of wall run on published guides.
- Kitchen and breakout
- A tea point or full kitchen with water and drainage, breakout seating, and sometimes a hospitality suite.
- Services moved to suit
- Air conditioning, lighting and sprinklers adjusted for the new rooms, power and data to desks, AV in meeting rooms.
- Finishes and identity
- Flooring, acoustic treatment, joinery, signage, and the reception and brand elements the business wants visitors to see.
Schedule of rates, Cat B
| Item | Scope | Guide cost |
|---|---|---|
| Cat B fit-out, standard | Partitions, meeting rooms, tea points, finishes and services moved to suit the layout | £1,300 to £2,150 per m² |
| Cat B fit-out, premium | Higher-end joinery, glazing, acoustic treatment, hospitality areas | £2,350 to £4,100 per m² |
| Glazed demountable partitions | Per m² of wall run, single to frameless double glazed | £80 to £180 per m² |
| Furniture | Per workstation, desk and chair to a full range | £1,500 to £5,000 each |
Central London published guides, Q1 2026, before VAT and fees. Outside London, regional cities typically run £350 to £600 per m² for a mid-range Cat B on a national trades guide (June 2026). A guide, not a quote. Build a budget in the cost plan.
Planning a Cat B fit-out
Test-fit before you sign the lease
A test-fit is a simple layout drawn on the floor plan of the space you are considering. It shows whether your headcount, meeting rooms and kitchen fit, and gives a first budget. Doing it before heads of terms means you can negotiate a landlord contribution or a longer rent-free period with real numbers in hand.
The landlord's consent and the base building
Cat B work needs the landlord's consent under the lease, normally a licence for alterations with drawings. Expect the landlord to want their consultants to check anything touching the fire strategy, sprinklers, air conditioning or structure, and to insist that some of that work is done by contractors they approve. Allow for their fees in your budget.
Spend where people notice
The biggest single cost in most Cat B schemes is rooms: every enclosed room needs partitions, a door, its own cooling and fresh air, lighting control, sprinkler heads and often acoustic upgrades. Fewer, better-used rooms often beat many small ones. Reception, the kitchen and the main meeting room carry the impression; open-plan areas can be simpler.
What you hand back at the end
Most leases require Cat B to be stripped out and the floor returned to Cat A when you leave. Design with that in mind: freestanding joinery and demountable partitions are cheaper to remove and sometimes reusable. See dilapidations works.
Design and build or traditional
Many Cat B projects are let as design and build, with the fit-out contractor developing the layout and specification for a fixed price. It is faster and puts design risk with one party. A traditional route, with an independent designer, keeps more control over specification and lets several contractors price the same drawings.
Where our information comes from
- British Council for Offices, Guide to Specification (2023)
- GOV.UK, Approved Document B: fire safety
- GOV.UK, Approved Document L: conservation of fuel and power
- HSE, CDM 2015: commercial clients, roles and responsibilities
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.
Headcount, floor area and move-in date: send those and a contractor can test-fit the space.
Brief a contractorHow the work gets done
A typical Cat B project from lease to move-in.
Test-fit and budget
Headcount and room schedule drawn on the floor plan, first cost plan, and the landlord contribution negotiated.
Design and consents
Layout, finishes and services design, licence for alterations, building control notified, and a fixed price agreed.
Build
Partitions and services first, then ceilings, joinery, finishes, AV and furniture, with IT installed in parallel.
Move in
Snagging, commissioning, the fire alarm tested with the base building, and the space handed over ready for day one.
Cat B questions
What is a Cat B fit-out?
How much does Cat B cost per m²?
How long does a Cat B fit-out take?
Does the landlord pay for any of it?
Do we need building regulations approval?
What happens to the fit-out when we leave?
Keep reading
- Cat A fit-out
The base your Cat B sits on.
- Cost plan
Cat B budget by area, region and furniture.
- Office refurbishment
All four office scopes compared.
- CDM 2015 client duties
What the client must do, by law.
Brief a contractor on a Cat B fit-out
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.
Received. This is what happens next.
- We find an independent commercial refurbishment contractor working in your part of the country on projects of this scale and sector, and contact you with the firm's name.
- Nothing goes to them until you say yes.
- Once you approve, the firm books a visit and follows up with a written proposal. You won't hear from us again unless you ask.