Insights
5 August 2026 · Fit out and refurbishment
Every fit out enquiry starts with the same question: what does it cost per square foot? The honest answer is a range, and a wide one. This guide gives the ranges the industry publishes for 2026, says what each one includes, and explains what moves a real project's price. Then it says how to get a number you can plan on.
The short answer for offices
Cushman & Wakefield's UK Office Fit Out Cost Guide 2026 covers the regional cities. Its all-in cost at a low specification is £117 to £128 per sq ft. A medium specification is £192 to £210, and a high one £284 to £310. London runs higher: £148, £243 and £359. "All in" counts the building work, the mechanical and electrical services, furniture and technology. No guide publishes an Oxford figure.
The contractors' own guides quote lower numbers, because they count less and they describe a typical job, not a benchmark. Area's guide puts an all-in office fit out at £45 to £85 per sq ft for a basic specification. A mid specification is £80 to £120, and a premium one £120 to £175 or more. ACI's 2026 guide is close: £45 to £85, £85 to £135, and £135 to £200 or more. K2 Space's 2026 guide prices the building work alone. It gives about £65 per sq ft for basic, £90 for mid-range and £120 or more for high specification. It then adds £20 to £55 per sq ft for furniture and £5 to £15 for audio-visual and IT.
Landlords and tenants split the work. Cat A is the landlord's base: raised floors, ceilings, lighting and the main services, ready to let. Cat B is the tenant's fit out on top of it. Zentura's 2026 guide puts Cat A at £500 to £1,500 per m², which is £46 to £139 per sq ft. It puts Cat B at £1,500 to £3,000 or more per m², which is £139 to £279 or more. Some landlords now offer Cat A+: a floor fitted with partitions, furniture and a breakout area, ready to move into. ACI describes it; no guide prices it.
| Office fit out, per sq ft | Range | Source |
|---|---|---|
| All in, regional cities, low to high specification | £117 to £310 | Cushman & Wakefield, 2026 |
| All in, London, low to high specification | £148 to £359 | Cushman & Wakefield, 2026 |
| All in, basic to premium, a typical job | £45 to £200+ | Area, ACI, 2025 to 2026 |
| Building work only, basic to high specification | £65 to £120+ | K2 Space, 2026 |
| Cat A, the landlord's base | £46 to £139 | Zentura, 2026, from £ per m² |
| Cat B, the tenant's fit out | £139 to £279+ | Zentura, 2026, from £ per m² |
The spread is not a mistake. The guides count different things, and the projects inside each range differ in the ways the next section describes.
What "per square foot" hides
Which square feet. A rate applied to the net internal area gives one total. Applied to the gross area it gives another, often ten to twenty per cent apart. Ask which area a quote uses.
What the number includes. Building work only, or the services, furniture, technology and fees as well. VAT is on top. Zentura and hamuch both allow a further five to ten per cent for fees and contingency. A per sq ft figure with nothing behind it tells you little.
What the building brings. A floor with working services, a raised floor and a sound ceiling costs less to fit out than one that needs new services routes. A listed building costs more again. The survey settles this before the price does.
The specification. Partitions, glazing, joinery, floor finishes and lighting are where two offices of the same size part company on price. The top of every range above is mostly specification.
The programme. A short programme means overtime and more people on site. A building that stays in use means out-of-hours work and phasing, which cost more than a clear floor.
Where the building is. London carries a premium over the rest of the country, which Area and ACI both put at fifteen to thirty per cent. Area puts Manchester at twenty to twenty-five per cent below London.
Other kinds of commercial fit out
The office guides do not cover shops, restaurants or laboratories, and their rates are different again.
| Fit out type, UK | Published range | Per sq ft, converted | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shop, basic to high specification | £300 to £1,500+ per m² | £28 to £139+ | New Look Shopfitters, 2026 |
| Restaurant or bar, basic | £1,000 to £3,000 per m² | £93 to £279 | hamuch, 2024 |
| Restaurant or bar, higher end | £3,000 to £10,000+ per m² | £279 to £929+ | hamuch, 2024 |
| Laboratory, simple to complex | £500 to £4,000 per m² | £46 to £372 | Klick Technology |
A restaurant costs more than a shop of the same size because of the kitchen: extract, drainage, gas, power and refrigeration. A laboratory costs more than an office because of the air handling, the benching, the gases and the containment level. Klick puts the services alone at up to thirty per cent of a laboratory's cost. The sector pages say what each kind of building asks for: retail, pubs, restaurants and hospitality and laboratories.
What moves the price most
- Mechanical and electrical services. The largest single package on most fit outs, and the one the existing building decides. Cushman & Wakefield names it, with labour and rising specification, as the pressure on every cost band in 2026.
- Strip out and making good. What comes out before anything goes in, and the reinstatement the lease may require at the end: see what a schedule of dilapidations is.
- Glazing, joinery and feature finishes. The premium items in every guide's top band.
- Compliance. Fire strategy, building control, accessibility and the landlord's licence to alter: none of them optional, all of them time.
- Furniture and technology. Often left out of the first number and added to the last one. Zentura budgets furniture at £500 to £900 a person.
How to get a number you can plan on
Ask for a price built from a survey of your floor, not from a rate. A survey finds the services routes, the condition of the floor and ceiling, and the access, which a rate cannot see. Ask for the scope written down beside the price, with the exclusions named: furniture, IT, fees, VAT. Ask who built the price up. A price from the people who will do the work is one they can stand behind. Keep the five to ten per cent the guides allow for what the survey could not open up.
That is how we price a fit out: from its own survey, as a fixed price built up by the teams that do the work. Every core trade is in-house.
Sources
- Cushman & Wakefield, UK Office Fit Out Cost Guide 2026
- ACI, Office fit out costs UK 2026
- Area, How much does an office fit out cost?
- K2 Space, How much does an office fit out cost in 2026?
- Zentura, Office fit out costs 2026
- New Look Shopfitters, How much does a shop fit out cost in 2026?
- hamuch, Fitting out a restaurant: costs
- Klick Technology, Lab fit out: cost considerations
All figures are the sources' own, exclude VAT unless they say otherwise, and were current when this guide was written. They are a starting point, not a quotation.
Read next: Cat A vs Cat B: what is the difference? · What is a schedule of dilapidations? · Fit out and refurbishment
