What Is Included in a Commercial Office Fit-Out? Shell, Cat A and Cat B Explained

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A commercial office fit-out converts a building from a basic shell into a workplace that people can occupy. In common UK usage, the work is described as shell and core, Cat A or Cat B. Shell and core provides the structure and shared building areas; Cat A generally leaves a serviced, open-plan floor; Cat B completes the tenant’s rooms, finishes, furniture, technology and identity. These labels describe typical stages rather than a guaranteed contents list, so the lease, landlord handover specification and works contract must be checked item by item. The UK Government Commercial Agency gives a useful overview of the stages at its fit-out guide.

What the three fit-out levels mean

The terminology below is most commonly used in the UK. Other countries may use different labels or allocate work differently. Even within the UK, a landlord can offer a specification that sits between the usual categories.

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Legrand’s UK explanation of the distinction is available at Cat A versus Cat B office fit-outs. The categories are useful shorthand for pricing and conversations, but they are not a substitute for a room-by-room specification.

Shell and core: the building before the tenant’s workplace

Shell and core work establishes the property’s structure and the shared infrastructure that serves multiple occupiers. Depending on the development, it can include the frame, external envelope, roof, entrance, common circulation, lifts, staircases, landlord reception and communal toilets. Main electrical, water, drainage, telecommunications and mechanical risers are normally installed to serve future floors or suites.

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The interior handed to a tenant at this stage may have exposed concrete, blockwork or unfinished soffits. Service connections can stop at a riser or landlord distribution point rather than at the eventual desk location. A shell handover therefore does not tell you how many power outlets, cooling zones, light fittings or meeting rooms the finished office will have.

Confirm the physical boundary of the demise, the location and capacity of incoming services, access arrangements for construction, fire strategy assumptions and any landlord rules before appointing a designer. A shell that appears similar on a plan can require very different tenant work if, for example, drainage is unavailable near the intended kitchen or the electrical intake has limited spare capacity.

What a typical Cat A fit-out includes

Cat A is intended to make the floor lettable rather than to make it ready for a particular organisation. A provider guide such as Tatton Projects’ Cat A and Cat B scope description lists the following elements as typical, but each building’s specification controls the actual result.

Base mechanical and electrical services

The landlord commonly provides an electrical distribution board or equivalent, general lighting, small-power distribution and connections to the building’s main systems. Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment may be installed to serve an open-plan area, with controls or zoning suited to the landlord’s standard. Fire detection, alarms and, where required, sprinklers are normally part of the base life-safety installation.

“Provided” does not automatically mean “sized for your plan”. Enclosing rooms, adding high-density equipment or changing occupancy can alter cooling loads, fresh-air requirements and fire-device locations. Ask for design capacities, spare electrical load, ventilation rates, control zones and the process for approving alterations.

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Floors and ceilings

A raised access floor, floor boxes and access panels are common Cat A features, as is a suspended ceiling grid with standard tiles. Some landlords provide only the structural slab, a partial grid or a capped service outlet. Floor coverings may be basic carpet tile, left to Cat B, or excluded entirely. Check whether the quoted floor build-up includes ramps, thresholds, skirtings and repairs around new partitions.

Open-plan presentation

Cat A generally leaves one open area with neutral, landlord-selected finishes. It may have standard light fittings and a completed ceiling, but it normally does not include the cellular offices, reception desk, meeting-room joinery or branded finishes that make the space feel like a specific company’s workplace.

What a typical Cat B fit-out adds

Cat B is the tenant-specific stage. It turns the serviced floor into an operational office and is where most design decisions, procurement and coordination occur.

Space planning, partitions and doors

The design team sets the workstation neighbourhoods and creates meeting rooms, private offices, focus rooms, storage, circulation and breakout areas. Construction can include plasterboard partitions, glazed screens, acoustic treatments, internal doors, ironmongery and room numbering. Partition positions may require relocation of lights, sprinklers, smoke detectors, air grilles and thermostats, so the architectural plan must be coordinated with every services drawing.

Floor, wall and joinery finishes

Tenant finishes can include carpet tile or resilient flooring, feature flooring, painted or decorative walls, skirtings, doorsets, reception counters, fitted storage, wall protection and bespoke joinery. Acoustic performance and cleanability matter as much as appearance: a meeting-room partition that looks complete but does not reach the slab or soffit may provide little speech privacy.

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Furniture and workplace equipment

Desks, task chairs, meeting tables, soft seating, lockers, pedestals and storage are commonly procured during Cat B. The scope should state quantities, dimensions, finishes, delivery, assembly, removal of packaging and responsibility for damaged items. Furniture layouts also need to be checked against accessibility clearances, escape routes, power and data outlets.

Kitchens, tea points and welfare areas

A tenant kitchen or tea point may include units, worktops, sinks, taps, water filtration, dishwashers, refrigerators, microwaves and associated plumbing and electrical work. Some buildings provide a landlord kitchenette or capped connections instead. Confirm drainage falls, hot-water capacity, extract requirements, appliance loads, fire precautions and whether appliances are supplied, installed and maintained by the tenant.

Information technology, data and audiovisual systems

Cat B technology can include structured data cabling, floor boxes, wireless-access-point cabling, server or communications-room fit-out, meeting-room displays, cameras, microphones, speakers, room-booking panels and video-conferencing equipment. A Cat A power outlet is not the same as a commissioned network point. Define cable category, containment, patching, labelling, testing results, equipment ownership, cyber-security responsibilities and who configures the active devices.

Branding, signage and specialist features

Reception graphics, internal signs, manifestation on glazed screens, logos, colour schemes, feature lighting and environmental graphics give the workplace its identity. External signs may need landlord consent, planning approval or restrictions imposed by a listed building or estate manual. Include artwork responsibility, sign dimensions, fixing methods, illumination and future removal in the scope.

Who pays and who does the work?

The common UK arrangement is that the landlord delivers shell and core or Cat A, while the tenant commissions Cat B. That is a convention, not a legal rule. A landlord may offer a turnkey Cat B package, contribute a fit-out allowance, or require the tenant to use an approved contractor. The lease and side letters determine payment, approvals, ownership and reinstatement.

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How to define the scope before pricing

1. Collect the controlling documents. Obtain the lease, landlord’s handover specification, plans, building-services information, estate manual, fire strategy, measured survey and any fit-out guide. Record the revision and date of each document.
2. Mark the physical boundary. Walk the suite and photograph floors, ceilings, risers, outlets, plant, windows, fire equipment and defects. Distinguish landlord areas, the demise and shared access routes.
3. Create an inclusion schedule. For every component, mark one of four statuses: existing and accepted; landlord works; tenant works; or excluded. Add quantity, performance requirement, responsible party and approval needed.
4. Test capacity, not just presence. Ask engineers to confirm electrical load, cooling, ventilation, water, drainage, fire alarm loops and data pathways against the proposed occupancy and equipment list.
5. Coordinate the design. Overlay architecture, mechanical, electrical, fire, lighting, furniture and technology plans. Resolve clashes before construction and identify any landlord shutdowns or out-of-hours work.
6. Obtain approvals. Submit the required drawings, risk assessments, method statements, fire information, insurance evidence and contractor details through the landlord’s stated process. Check planning, building-control, accessibility and health-and-safety requirements applicable to the project’s location.
7. Price like-for-like. Require each tender to state provisional sums, exclusions, lead times, taxes, testing, commissioning, cleaning, waste removal, furniture installation and fees. An apparently cheaper bid may simply omit data, appliances or landlord costs.
8. Close out the handover. Require marked-up as-built drawings, operation and maintenance manuals, test certificates, warranties, fire-system records, asset lists, keys, access credentials and training. Keep the final approved layout for future alterations and lease-end decisions.

How to compare two fit-out proposals or handovers

Compare proposals against the same axes rather than relying on “Cat A” or “Cat B” in the title. The following table provides a practical comparison framework.

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

• Assuming the label is a specification. Fix: attach the detailed landlord schedule and annotated drawings to the contract.
• Counting a service outlet as a finished facility. A capped drain or electrical feed does not include units, appliances, controls or commissioning. Fix: describe the complete operational outcome.
• Ignoring capacity and controls. A room added to an open-plan zone can become too hot, poorly ventilated or impossible to control. Fix: have building-services engineers model the revised layout.
• Moving partitions without moving life-safety devices. Fix: coordinate reflected ceiling, fire and mechanical plans and obtain the required approval before work starts.
• Leaving technology until the end. Fix: agree cable routes, rack space, power, network ownership and audiovisual standards before ceilings and partitions close.
• Forgetting accessibility and acoustics. Fix: review door widths, turning spaces, thresholds, visual manifestation, hearing-support provisions and room privacy during design.
• Overlooking reinstatement. Fix: read the lease early, photograph the pre-works condition and price removal or retention of tenant alterations.
• Comparing unlike prices. Fix: normalise quantities, finishes, working hours, fees, testing, furniture, taxes and exclusions before selecting a contractor.

Two examples of how the scope changes

Open-plan serviced floor

A small occupier taking a Cat A floor may keep the landlord’s ceiling, lighting and air-conditioning. Its Cat B package could be limited to a reception point, one meeting room, carpet, desks, chairs, a tea point and data cabling. The project still needs coordinated fire and services drawings, furniture power and a documented handover.

Client-facing headquarters

A larger organisation may require a reception sequence, multiple acoustic meeting suites, executive rooms, collaboration zones, a kitchen with heavy appliance loads, a communications room, audiovisual integration and extensive branding. Those additions can affect cooling, electrical capacity, fire-device locations, plumbing, acoustic detailing, signage approvals and programme duration. They should be tested against the landlord’s capacities before the design is fixed.

Regional and contractual limits

The shell-and-core, Cat A and Cat B vocabulary and the landlord/tenant split described here are UK-oriented conventions. The London Borough of Haringey’s 2025 Workspace Planning Design Guidance illustrates why planning, accessibility and workplace requirements must be checked against the actual project. In another jurisdiction, equivalent stages may have different names, building-code obligations or approval routes.

No universal legal checklist determines what every office fit-out includes. The dependable answer is the signed scope: it should identify what exists, what the landlord will provide, what the tenant will supply, what is excluded, who approves each change and what must be removed or left in place when the lease ends.

The practical answer

Expect shell and core to provide the building and shared infrastructure, Cat A to provide a neutral, serviced open-plan floor, and Cat B to provide the occupier’s rooms, finishes, furniture, amenities, technology and identity. Use those terms to structure the conversation, then replace assumptions with a written inclusion schedule, tested service capacities, coordinated drawings, clear approvals and a handover checklist. That is what turns a category label into a usable commercial office.

Quick Recap

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