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According to a leading specialist office fit out & office refurbishment project management and cost consultancy firm in London, typical 2012 fit-out costs for a modern office design can range from £45.00 psf for an office refurbishment in a logistics warehouse to £75.00 psf for a project that includes a significant upgrade to the building ventilation systems.

A recently completed, high specification project for a leading FTSE 100 company - at £62.50 psf - would have been at a much higher cost, above £100 psf, but the project re-used a considerable amount of fixtures and fittings from existing premises to achieve significant savings.

Certain modern office interior design projects involve a fit-out cost per square foot far higher than the typical range; for example, with fit out costs sometimes in the region of £180 - £200 per square foot. Commercial interior fit out projects with this level of cost differ from the regular office design layout or office refurbishment in that the fittings, materials and furniture will be specified to the very highest standard rather than the usual commercial levels.

All figures quoted include Office Design, CDM & Building Regulation submissions and project management... the figures are for complete start-to-finish projects.

Office Fit Out Costs

Suggested price ranges: for a CAT B office fit out of £40 - £60 per square foot for a basic specification, £60 - £80 psf for a mid-range scheme, £80 - £100 psf for a high quality project and £120 + for projects incorporating outstanding office design ideas and quality.

Typically, these figures include separate professional fees for architects, external project management and cost control that together account for the difference between Design & Build fit-out costs and the 'traditional' examples quoted.

Legal minimum office space per person.

There is no prescribed minimum occupancy level for a modern office design. Within the UK Building Regulations the section dealing with Fire Hazards (Part B of the Building Regs.) advises a minimum area of 6 square metres (64 sq feet) for each person in an office premises. This figure can be achieved by equating the total headcount against the overall net internal area (NIA) and so doesn't necessarily limit the space for a single person with a desk.

In practice, offices will have a number of factors - mostly relating to Fire Escape but also the provisions of WCs, amount of fresh air available through a ducted system, etc. - that have an impact on the legal maximum number of people accommodated within an office building. The Means of Escape is the key criteria for density of occupation. Once a workstation office design layout is defined the Building Control advisor can determine if there are sufficient escape routes for the staff numbers.

What lies ahead for occupancy ratios?

As mobile technology improves, as home working becomes more viable with bandwidth increases, and as part-time working becomes more widespread, so the need for one desk per person diminishes. Increasingly modern office design is moving towards a ratio of 7 or 8 desks for every 10 staff. The next question is then about saving money by reducing the overall office space rental, or to perhaps give some of the space over to social and team purposes?

One of the leading adopters of modern office design, incorporating flexible working and shared desk allocation, CISCO Systems, works on a ratio of 160 sq ft per person. Clearly, they haven't used unallocated desks and mobile working as a cost-cutting measure. Instead they've used space imaginatively, incorporating a modern office interior design to promote interaction, inspiration, and work zones to support teams, quiet working, noisy working... whatever office design layout is needed for the staff to be most effective.

Occasionally cost information is presented on a Square Metre basis. The ratio of square feet to square metres is approximately 10.7: 1.