Office Fit-Out Canary Wharf

Office fit-out in Canary Wharf happens in one of London's main office clusters. Whole floors in the towers around Canada Square are a job for large specialist fit-out contractors, and that is not our work. The office work we take on is small and medium suites and small single floors in low-rise buildings: a suite for a professional practice, a studio or an office above shops on the wider Isle of Dogs. We strip out, partition, light, power and finish it, and hand back a working office on an agreed date.

For Canary Wharf, 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 Canary Wharf: we build the office partitions, ceilings, lighting and finishes as one contract and coordinate the IT supplier and specialist trades around them.

Cat A and Cat B fit-out in a Canary Wharf office suite

A Canary Wharf office is usually let in one of two states, and knowing which tells you how much work is yours. Category A, or Cat A, is the landlord's basic finish: raised floor, suspended ceiling, lighting, air conditioning and toilets, with an open floor. Category B, or Cat B, is the tenant's own layout on top of that: partitions and glazed screens, meeting rooms, a tea point or kitchenette, furniture, branding and the small power and data outlets that match your desks.

A small tenant that takes Cat A space then commissions the Cat B fit-out. We build the partitions, glazed meeting rooms and doors, adapt ceiling tiles and lighting to the new rooms, extend small power through the raised floor and fit the kitchenette and any showers. Data cabling is coordinated with your IT supplier, who terminates and tests it. At lease end, the dilapidations clause may require the Cat B work to come out again, so we keep a record of what was added.

Building regulations for a non-domestic Canary Wharf fit-out

An office fit-out in Canary Wharf needs building regulations approval wherever it changes means of escape, fire separation, access, drainage or ventilation. New partitions can lengthen escape routes or block a sprinkler or smoke detector, so Part B is checked on the layout before it is priced. Part M covers access and accessible WCs, and Part L covers new lighting and services. Tower Hamlets building control publishes charges for office or retail fit-outs banded by the cost of the work.

Non-domestic work not listed as a standard charge in the council's Table D is individually determined, and applicants email building control for a figure. Your designer prepares the full plans application, we supply the method statement and programme, and the council inspects at the start, the end and at stages during the work, so we book those visits into the programme. A commencement notice goes to Tower Hamlets at least two working days before work starts. In a managed tower, the landlord's own approval of the drawings usually runs alongside, and neither replaces the other.

Licence for alterations, working hours and CDM duties in Canary Wharf

Before any office fit-out in Canary Wharf starts, the landlord's licence for alterations has to be in place. The landlord or managing agent reviews the drawings, the method statement and the programme, and may set rules on deliveries, lift bookings, hot works and noisy hours. In an occupied building those rules often push drilling, core cutting and ceiling work outside office hours. Where that noise would carry beyond the building outside the council's 8am to 6pm weekday hours, Tower Hamlets' prior consent is needed before it is programmed, and otherwise only quiet work runs late.

As a business commissioning building work, you are a client under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations, with duties of your own, such as allowing enough time and passing on information you hold about the building. Where more than one contractor is involved, as it is once an electrician and the IT supplier's installers join the job, the client appoints a principal designer and a principal contractor in writing. We act as principal contractor and prepare the construction phase plan. Tower Hamlets' duty building control officer service also gives pre-application advice on small commercial buildings through its Building Control Free Advice Form, which helps settle escape routes before the layout is fixed.

Moving in on a date, and the office policy around Canary Wharf

A Canary Wharf office fit-out is planned backwards from the day your staff move in. The landlord's licence for alterations, the building control approval and the lead times for glazed screens, doors and kitchen units usually set the critical path, more than the building work itself. We fix those dates first, then run strip out, partitions, ceiling and lighting changes, small power, the kitchenette and decoration in order, with the IT supplier's cabling slotted in before the ceilings close. A short snagging period before handover leaves time for furniture delivery and data testing.

Planning policy is background for a tenant, not a hurdle. London Plan Policies E1 and SD4 support Article 4 Directions to protect the Northern Isle of Dogs office cluster from office to residential permitted development. Tower Hamlets has an Article 4 direction removing Class E to residential rights in certain parts of the borough, in force from 18 August 2022, and the council map shows whether a given building is inside it. Fitting out an office keeps it in office use, so none of this changes your project.

• Reception areas and internal joinery
• Quiet work after hours in occupied offices, noisy work within the council's hours
• Internal office signage and manifestation on glazed screens

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for the Canary Wharf, Millwall and Cubitt Town statistical areas, which together cover the Isle of Dogs. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Next steps that tend to follow office fit-out in Canary Wharf: commercial fit-out in Canary Wharf, office fit-out across Tower Hamlets, builders across London, building control in London, office fit-out anywhere in London and Painting and Decorating Cost.

Why Choose GS Renovation in Canary Wharf

A small office fit-out needs the same order and paperwork as a big one, without the overhead. We work from your layout, agree the method statement with the landlord, run strip out, partitions, ceilings, lighting, power, kitchenette and finishes as one programme, and coordinate the data installation with your IT supplier. A registered electrician certifies the electrical installation. You keep one contact on site and a handover date you can plan the move around, with a record of what was installed for the end of the lease.

• A written scope and programme agreed before work starts
• Method statement and programme supplied for your landlord's licence for alterations
• Fire alarm, emergency lighting and air conditioning specialists on one programme

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