Office Fit-Out Kennington

Office fit-out in Kennington is small office work, and it is honest to say so. Kennington is known for its housing, post-war estates around Georgian and Victorian squares, rather than for office blocks. The office work here tends to be a suite above a shop on Kennington Road, a studio in a converted building or professional rooms near the Oval. We strip out and fit out those spaces with partitions, ceilings, lighting, power, tea points and WCs, working to the landlord's licence and to Lambeth building control's commercial process.

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

What office space in Kennington actually looks like

Expect small spaces rather than whole office floors in Kennington. The area is mainly housing, post-war council estates around Georgian and Victorian squares. The office space among it is more likely to be one or two rooms above a ground floor shop, a former house used as professional rooms, or a studio in a mixed building. A fit-out in that setting has neighbours on every side, a shared street door, and often no lift, which shapes delivery sizes and working hours.

Lambeth's three Modified Article 4 Directions withdrawing Class MA commercial to residential rights came into force on 28 October 2022, which makes office use more secure in the places they cover. For a tenant the practical questions are closer to hand. A Kennington suite above a shop often shares its electricity supply, water and fire alarm with the unit below, and the landlord decides who may alter them. We establish at survey which services are yours, which are shared and which are the landlord's, because that sets what the fit-out can change and who signs it off.

Cat A and Cat B in a small Kennington office

Cat A and Cat B describe how far the landlord has taken the space before a Kennington tenant moves in. Cat A is the landlord's base: finished ceilings, lighting, heating and cooling, raised floors or perimeter trunking, and working WCs. Cat B is the tenant's layout on top: partitions and glazed screens, meeting rooms, a tea point or kitchenette, extra small power, signage inside and the decoration that makes it your office.

Small suites above shops rarely come as a clean Cat A shell. Often the job starts with strip out of the last tenant's partitions and carpet tiles, then new lighting and power to current standards, then the Cat B layout. We coordinate the data cabling routes and containment with your IT supplier, so their engineer arrives to a finished route and the cabinet position agreed. In a Kennington suite without a raised floor, power and data usually run in perimeter trunking or through the ceiling void.

Building control, fire escape and access for a Kennington office

Office fit-out work in Kennington that is building work goes through Lambeth's commercial route. Building works to commercial properties require a full plans application, ideally sent at least five weeks before work starts, and Lambeth uses those plans to consult other authorities such as the fire authority. New partitions can change travel distances and escape routes, so the drawings settle Part B means of escape, fire doors and alarm coverage before any stud goes up.

Part M access and Part L lighting and services follow the same plans. A new WC or shower may need to be accessible, and new lighting has to meet efficiency and control requirements. Within three working days of receiving an application, Lambeth building control sends a letter confirming whether it can process it, and you arrange the first inspection with its surveyor at least two days before work begins. We build those dates into the Kennington programme.

Licences, occupied buildings and dilapidations in Kennington

A Kennington office tenant needs the landlord's licence for alterations before partitions, ceilings or services change. The licence often fixes working hours, contractor details and what must be reinstated at lease end. As a commercial client you also have duties under the CDM Regulations: appointing competent contractors, allowing time for the work and providing information about the building, such as any asbestos survey. We give you a construction phase plan for the job.

In an occupied building, noisy strip out and drilling are planned around the other occupiers, and Lambeth allows construction work Monday to Friday 8.00am to 6.00pm and Saturday 8.00am to 1.00pm. At the end of a Kennington lease, dilapidations can mean removing your partitions and cabling and returning the space to its original state. We photograph and record the space before the fit-out, so the reinstatement scope is clear when the lease ends.

• Dilapidations and reinstatement works at the end of an office lease
• Strip-out of the previous tenant's office, with disposal
• Data containment laid for your IT supplier to cable

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Lambeth Walk & North Kennington and Oval. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Work in Kennington rarely sits on its own, so you may also want commercial fit-out in Kennington, office fit-out across Lambeth, what a main building contractor does, building control in London, office fit-out anywhere in London and Budget and Contingency.

Working With GS Renovation in Kennington

A small office fit-out lives or dies on the programme, because rent often starts before the space is usable. We work backwards from Lambeth's building control dates, agree access with the landlord and the other occupiers, and run strip out, partitions, ceilings, lighting, power and decoration under one site lead. Your IT supplier gets a clear date and a finished cable route, and you get one contact from survey to handover.

• Waste cleared as we go, not left piled up outside
• One named contact for the landlord, the building manager and your office manager
• 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).