Cat A Fit Out Cost in 2026: Price per sq ft, What It Includes and What Moves It

Cat A fit out cost per sq ft in 2026

Knight Frank's Landlord Refurbishment Cost Guide for Spring 2026 prices the office floors of a Central London refurbishment at £110 per sq ft. Its programme page describes that scope as "Cat A" to office floors.

Contractor preliminaries, overheads, profit and risk are included. VAT, professional fees, section 106, community infrastructure levy, rights of light and utility upgrades are not.

Laxton's Building Price Book 2026 gives a cross-check, per m2 across the UK. Basic office refurbishment is £1,000 to £1,650, about £93 to £153 per sq ft.

High quality refurbishment including air conditioning is £1,200 to £1,800, about £111 to £167 per sq ft. Knight Frank's £110 sits at the bottom of that range. The guides use different bases, so treat them as a check, not a match.

What sits inside a Cat A price

A Cat A fit out is the landlord's work that makes an empty floor lettable. No law defines it. The industry reference for office specification is the BCO Guide to Specification, so always check the landlord's own schedule.

Here is what each Knight Frank line pays for:

1. Strip out, £10. Taking the previous occupier's fit-out back to the base floor.
2. Raised access floor, £5. Refurbishing the floor void that carries power and data.
3. Ceiling, £12. A suspended ceiling, or treatment of the soffit where the ceiling is left open.
4. Decorations and joinery, £8. Paint, joinery and window treatment such as blinds.
5. Lighting, power and fire alarms, £25. LED lighting, small power and the alarm.
6. Air conditioning and ventilation, £50. Heating, cooling and fresh air, nearly half the total.

Cat A leaves out the rooms, the kitchen, the furniture, the IT and the branding. That is Cat B, built by the tenant. Our Cat A vs Cat B fit out guide shows where the line falls. For the occupier's side of the budget, see office fit out cost per sq ft.

Knowing the number is the first step. Our Cat A fit out for landlords team prices your floor element by element, free, from your plans.

Floors only, or the whole building: three budget levels

The £110 covers the office floors only. A landlord refurbishing a whole building adds the common parts the next tenant walks through, and then the plant behind them. Knight Frank prices three schemes.

Common parts are £65. WCs are £25, remedial works to the fabric including scaffold £15, reception £10, amenity space £10 and staircases and lift lobby £5. An incoming tenant judges the WCs and reception first.

Main plant is £100. The largest items are lifts, air conditioning plant and main electrical plant at £20 each. Air source heat pumps and sprinkler tanks and pumps are £10 each. Controls, security, the fire alarm panel and boilers make up the rest.

Options sit on top. Core alterations are £25 to £50 per sq ft, a new facade or windows £20 to £100 and a communal terrace £10 to £25.

What pushes a Cat A fit out cost up or down

The benchmark is an average. Six things move your own number, and a survey of the floor settles each one.

1. Services retained or replaced. Air conditioning and ventilation is £50 of the £110. Keeping sound plant moves the total more than any other decision.
2. Condition of the floor. Knight Frank prices the raised floor as a refurbishment at £5. A floor that needs replacing, or a ceiling that must be rebuilt, costs more.
3. Size of the building. Buildings below 50,000 sq ft may carry a cost premium.
4. Occupied building and working hours. Other tenants set the hours for noisy work. At Portsoken House the remaining floors were let, so the noisy work ran at nights and weekends.
5. Region. Knight Frank takes 10% off the South East and 20% off the Midlands and East Anglia. The North West, North East and Scotland are 25% lower, and Wales 30%.
6. EPC target. A let non-domestic floor needs at least EPC E unless an exemption is registered. A floor that falls short needs the upgrades priced into the £300+ scheme.

Our guide to MEES and EPC rules for commercial landlords explains what the rating requires. Check the fees, section 106, CIL and utility upgrades, too. Every benchmark here excludes them.

Cat A, Cat A+ or straight to Cat B

Cat A leaves the next tenant a blank floor. Cat A+ adds desks, a few meeting rooms and a tea point, so a small team can move in within weeks. Cat B is built to one occupier's layout.

Knight Frank lists a turnkey Cat B fit out including furniture as an option in a landlord's refurbishment, at £100 to £200 per sq ft. That is on top of the Cat A. A landlord who builds it carries the risk that the layout does not suit the tenant who signs.

A common answer is to build the Cat A and offer a contribution to the tenant's Cat B. Our landlord fit-out contribution guide covers how that is agreed. The licence for alterations then governs what the tenant may build.

Budgeting a vacant floor in five steps

A budget the agent can quote needs a floor behind it. These five steps get there.

1. Gather the plans and the schedule. Floor plans, the last Cat A specification and the current EPC.
2. Survey the floor. Check the raised floor, ceiling, plant and fire systems against the specification.
3. Cost by element. Price each line of the table above for your building, not an average.
4. Fit the programme to the marketing date. Count back from the date you want to show the floor.
5. Decide the level. Floors only, floors with common parts, or the whole building with plant and EPC works.

The programme matters as much as the number. Knight Frank's programme for a whole-building scheme up to 50,000 sq ft is 39 weeks of design and procurement and 39 on site. A single floor with sound services is much shorter.

At Beaumont House, 750 sq m was fitted out in three weeks, on a floor whose base services were already there.

Portsoken House is the other end of the range. An abandoned warehouse became offices: 1,550 sq m in seven months, with a full mechanical and electrical package. See the Portsoken House case study.

That was one project, not a rate. Each floor is priced from its own survey. Send us your plans for a free schedule costing and we cost it element by element.