Office Fit-Out Borough

Office fit-out in Borough means working in older commercial buildings and newer blocks close to London Bridge. Southwark Plan 2022 names London Bridge and Bankside and The Borough among its District Town Centres, and the older commercial buildings can hold studios, small suites and floors above shops. We fit out offices at the scale a Borough business actually takes: strip out, partitions, ceilings, lighting, power, meeting rooms and tea points, built to the landlord's licence and building regulations.

For Borough, the construction part of an office fit-out is published at £70 to £120 per sq ft as a UK guide, and an all-in London office fit-out at £148 to £359 per sq ft (Oktra and Cushman and Wakefield, 2026). GS Renovation Ltd, a building contractor based in Potters Bar, does the work in Borough: we build the office partitions, ceilings, lighting and finishes as one contract and coordinate the IT supplier and specialist trades around them.

Office fit-out in Borough always goes through full plans or an approver

An office fit-out in Borough that includes building work needs a proper building regulations route from the start. Southwark says a building notice is only for small, simple domestic work and cannot be used in offices, shops or workplaces. Where Southwark is the building control body, it asks for a full plans application for work to offices, shops and similar premises. The other route is a registered building control approver, and in either case the drawings are prepared and checked before we start on site.

For an office, the drawings deal with the things that matter to people at work. Part B covers the means of escape, fire doors, the fire alarm and how new partitions affect travel distances to the stair. Part M covers level access, accessible WCs and door widths. Part L covers the lighting and controls. Your designer prepares and submits the plans; we build to the approved set and keep the inspector's visits in the programme. A redecoration with new carpet and no building work needs no application.

Cat A and Cat B fit-out for a Borough office floor

When you take an office floor in Borough, first establish what the landlord hands over. Cat A is the base standard: raised floor or finished screed, suspended ceiling, lighting, heating and cooling to open plan, and working toilets. Cat B is your own layout on top: partitions and glazed screens, meeting rooms, a tea point or kitchenette, extra small power, data routes, reception joinery and decoration. A floor in one of Borough's older commercial buildings may come with neither, and then the strip out is the first job.

The Cat B programme runs strip out, then partitions and ceilings, then first fix electrics and mechanical changes, then boarding and decoration, then floor finishes and joinery. Data cabling is coordinated with your IT supplier so their containment goes in before the ceilings close. A kitchenette or shower needs drainage routes agreed with the landlord. We give a programme that lets your move date be fixed, with the long lead items such as glazed screens ordered as soon as drawings are signed off.

Article 4 directions and Borough office buildings

Much office space in Southwark cannot switch to flats without planning permission. Southwark's Central Activities Zone Article 4 directions require planning permission to convert an office, or other commercial and leisure premises, to a home. Its separate non-immediate direction removing the Class MA right to change offices to dwellings came into force on 1 August 2022. The London Plan asks boroughs to use such directions so the CAZ and other office clusters are not undermined. Whether a given Borough building is covered is a question for its owner and their planning adviser.

For an office tenant, this is context rather than a task. It does not change your fit-out drawings or your building control route. What it can change is the landlord's thinking: where a direction covers the building, a residential scheme needs a planning application, so refitting the floor for a new office tenant is the simpler option for them. The lease length, the break clauses and the reinstatement terms are what should shape how much you put into the space.

Licences, working hours and dilapidations in a Borough office building

Before any office fit-out in Borough starts, the landlord's licence for alterations is signed, and it sets what you may change and what must come out at lease end. Southwark's limit for noisy construction, such as core drilling or cutting screed, is 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 9am to 2pm on Saturday. Noisy work outside those hours needs Southwark's prior consent under the Control of Pollution Act, which is rarely granted near homes. Where no homes are affected, the landlord and other occupiers can agree noisy slots outside office hours, still within those limits. We agree the schedule with the building manager in writing before the start.

As a commercial client you also carry duties under the CDM Regulations, including appointing a principal designer and a principal contractor where more than one contractor works on the project. At the end of the lease, dilapidations and reinstatement come back into play. We record the existing condition before strip out, keep drawings of what we install and can reinstate to the licence terms when you leave. Larger schemes also face Southwark Plan 2022 Policy P69, which requires BREEAM Excellent for non-domestic conversion or change of use over 500sqm.

• Tea points and kitchenettes on the existing risers
• Internal office signage and manifestation on glazed screens
• Quiet work after hours in occupied offices, noisy work within the council's hours

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Borough & Southwark Street and Southwark St George's. Counts rounded by the VOA.

For the wider picture around office fit-out in Borough, see commercial fit-out in Borough, office fit-out across Southwark, what a main building contractor does, how building control works in London, our London office fit-out page and Flooring Options Compared.

Why Choose GS Renovation in Borough

An office fit-out has to finish on the day your team moves in, and the lease often fixes that date before the drawings are done. From a site visit we price the work in writing and set out a programme that shows the building control stages, the long lead items, the agreed working hours and handover. One team covers strip out, partitions, ceilings, joinery, decoration and the kitchenette or WCs. A registered electrician certifies the electrical work and specialist mechanical trades work within our programme. The founder is your single point of contact.

• Neighbours given notice before the noisy stages
• Fire alarm, emergency lighting and air conditioning specialists on one programme
• Every new office circuit certified to BS 7671 by a registered electrician

Checked by Abdelaaziz Saaid, founder and director of GS Renovation Ltd (Companies House no. 14611254).