How Much Does an Office Refurbishment Cost in the UK?

Office refurbishment costs in the UK can range from a relatively modest budget for decoration and flooring through to a substantial investment for a complete refurbishment involving partitions, ceilings, mechanical and electrical services, kitchens, WCs, furniture and technology.

There is no single reliable cost-per-square-foot figure that works for every office.

Published industry benchmarks illustrate just how wide the range can be. One UK refurbishment guide gives an indicative 2026 range of approximately £300 to £1,600 per square metre, equivalent to roughly £28 to £149 per square foot, depending on the extent and specification of the work.

Broader "all-in" office fit-out benchmarks can be considerably higher. Cushman & Wakefield's 2026 UK guide gives low, medium and high fit-out benchmarks ranging from £117 to £359 per square foot across Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester and London.

Those figures are not necessarily contradictory. They demonstrate why an office refurbishment budget must be based on exactly what is included rather than a headline rate alone.

A painting-and-flooring refresh is fundamentally different from a complete workplace fit-out with new meeting rooms, ventilation, electrical alterations, furniture, AV equipment and professional design fees.

For businesses, landlords and facilities managers in Southampton and across Hampshire, the most useful approach is therefore to establish the required scope first and use square-foot rates only as an early budgeting tool.

What is included in an office refurbishment?

An office refurbishment normally involves improving an existing workplace rather than fitting out an entirely empty building from scratch.

The scope could be as straightforward as redecorating tired offices, replacing flooring and upgrading a reception area. At the other end of the scale, it might involve stripping areas back, altering partitions, changing ceilings and lighting, upgrading staff facilities and coordinating several specialist trades.

Typical refurbishment work can include:

• Painting and decorating

• Floor finishes

• Suspended ceilings

• Office partitions and doors

• Joinery

• Reception area upgrades

• Lighting alterations

• Electrical works

• Data cabling

• Plumbing

• Kitchen and breakroom refurbishment

• Office WC refurbishment

• Heating, ventilation or air-conditioning alterations

• Furniture

• Strip-out and waste removal

• Making good

• Final cleaning and handover

The more of these elements that are included, the less useful a simple decorating rate becomes.

Knight Frank's Spring 2026 occupier fit-out guide demonstrates this clearly. Its London benchmarks are approximately £100 per square foot for a lower specification, £175 for medium and £250+ for a higher specification. The underlying cost breakdown includes elements such as internal walls, flooring, finishes, joinery, mechanical and electrical services, AV, furniture and professional fees, while IT hardware is excluded.

The lesson for anyone comparing refurbishment quotations is straightforward: compare the scope, not just the total figure.

What does a basic office refurbishment cost?

A basic office refresh generally focuses on existing finishes rather than major layout or building-services changes.

You might retain the current office configuration, ceilings, lighting and services while carrying out decoration, replacing worn carpet and making minor repairs.

Published 2026 guidance gives individual benchmark ranges of around £1–£5 per square foot for decoration and £2–£6 per square foot for carpeting. These are component costs rather than a complete project price and should not be treated as a contractor quotation.

Site preparation, access equipment, furniture moving, repairs, protection, waste, management and working restrictions can all affect the eventual cost.

Small projects can also have a higher cost per square foot than larger areas because basic mobilisation and project costs still need to be covered.

For that reason, applying a decorating rate to the total floor area and assuming that is the complete refurbishment budget can be misleading.

What does a mid-range office refurbishment involve?

A more substantial commercial office refurbishment may retain much of the existing building infrastructure while improving both appearance and functionality.

For example, the project might include new decoration and flooring throughout, alterations to meeting rooms, new doors or joinery, selected ceiling and lighting works, improved reception areas and refurbishment of staff welfare facilities.

At this level, costs become increasingly dependent on the condition of the existing premises.

A relatively modern office where services and ceilings can be retained is likely to require a very different budget from an older property where the electrical installation, ventilation, plumbing or existing partitions need significant alteration.

This is why a contractor should ideally inspect the premises before providing a firm quotation.

What makes a high-specification refurbishment more expensive?

Higher-specification projects tend to involve a combination of increased complexity and more expensive materials rather than simply better paint or carpet.

Typical cost drivers can include bespoke joinery, glazed partitions, acoustic treatments, feature lighting, specialist flooring, upgraded ventilation, extensive electrical alterations, premium kitchens, high-quality sanitaryware, AV systems and new furniture.

Knight Frank's 2026 cost benchmark illustrates this progression. Its higher-specification category assumes higher levels of acoustics, upgrades to base-build services, enhanced front-of-house and collaboration spaces, bespoke elements and higher-quality furniture and AV.

A company planning this type of project should therefore develop a specification

before asking several contractors for prices. Otherwise, each contractor may be pricing a different interpretation of "high specification".

The biggest factors affecting office refurbishment cost

1. The condition of the existing office

Existing condition is often one of the largest variables.

An office that mainly needs cosmetic improvements can be relatively straightforward. If strip-out reveals damaged surfaces, obsolete services or areas requiring extensive repair, the scope can increase considerably.

A sensible quotation should make clear what preparation and repairs have been allowed for and what would be treated as a variation if concealed problems are discovered.

2. How much of the existing office can be retained

Replacing everything is not always necessary.

Existing ceilings, doors, partitions, lighting or floor finishes may sometimes be serviceable and suitable for retention.

Identifying those elements early can prevent money being spent replacing perfectly usable components while allowing more budget to be directed towards areas that genuinely need improvement.

3. Mechanical and electrical work

Electrical and mechanical services can form a substantial part of a comprehensive fit-out budget. Both Knight Frank and Cushman & Wakefield identify building services and specification levels as important elements within current fit-out costs.

Changes to layouts can also have a knock-on effect. Moving a meeting room wall, for example, may require changes to lighting, sockets, data, ventilation and fire-related systems rather than simply moving the partition itself.

4. Kitchens and staff facilities

A staff kitchen involves several trades and materials: cabinets, worktops, flooring, decoration, plumbing and potentially electrical work.

The specification can vary from a simple practical tea point to a substantially upgraded staff breakroom.

Treating kitchens as a separate section of the quotation can make the budget easier to control.

5. Office WC refurbishment

Commercial WCs can also represent a significant standalone part of an office project.

A refurbishment may involve strip-out, sanitaryware, plumbing, tiling, flooring, ceilings, lighting and decoration. Cosgrove coordinates these different trades as part of its office WC refurbishment service in Southampton and Hampshire.

Where businesses need to remain operational, the sequencing of WC works should also be considered before the project begins.

6. Working in an occupied office

Refurbishing an empty building is different from working around employees, customers and day-to-day operations.

An occupied refurbishment may require additional protection, daily cleaning, phased working and carefully planned access.

Some work can potentially be scheduled outside normal working hours where appropriate, although this should be agreed when the project is scoped because it can affect labour arrangements and the programme.

Cosgrove's commercial refurbishment approach includes phasing and flexible working where required to minimise disruption to occupied premises.

7. Location

Location also affects refurbishment and fit-out costs.

Published 2026 benchmarks show a clear difference between London and other UK regions. Cushman & Wakefield, for example, places London above Birmingham, Glasgow and Manchester across its low, medium and high cost categories.

Knight Frank's 2026 guide similarly uses Central London as its base and indicates an approximate regional cost difference of -10% for the South East.

That should not be interpreted as a fixed Hampshire discount. Local access, project size, contractor availability, specification and individual site conditions remain important, so an actual site quotation is more useful than applying a national regional multiplier.

Why cost-per-square-foot figures can be misleading

Cost-per-square-foot figures are useful during very early planning, but they should not become the project budget without further investigation.

Imagine two offices with the same floor area.

The first needs decoration, flooring and a small amount of ceiling work.

The second needs new partitions, meeting rooms, electrical alterations, ventilation changes, a new kitchen, refurbished WCs and extensive joinery.

They may have identical square footage but entirely different refurbishment costs.

There is another problem: different industry cost guides include different things.

One figure might describe construction work only. Another may include furniture, professional fees or AV. Another may assume the building has already been delivered to a particular landlord specification.

Before relying on any benchmark, find out what sits behind the number.

What should an office refurbishment quotation include?

A good commercial refurbishment quotation should make it easy to understand what you are paying for.

Rather than receiving a vague single figure for "office refurbishment works", ask for the main work sections to be clearly identified.

Depending on the project, this could include strip-out, preparation, painting, flooring, partitions, ceilings, joinery, plumbing, electrical works, staff facilities, waste disposal and project management.

The quotation should also state significant exclusions.

Check whether furniture, IT equipment, professional design work, statutory fees, specialist surveys and VAT are included or excluded where relevant.

A clear variation process is equally important. If the client changes the scope after work begins, or an unexpected condition is discovered, the cost should ideally be identified and agreed before the additional work proceeds.

Cosgrove's approach to commercial refurbishment is based around an agreed scope, defined programme and clear quotation before work starts, with coordinated trades managed through one point of contact.

How can you reduce office refurbishment costs without cutting corners?

The most effective cost control usually happens before contractors arrive on site.

Start by separating essential work from desirable upgrades.

If existing partitions, ceilings or services can remain, retaining them may release budget for areas where improvements will have more practical impact.

Confirm materials and finishes early. Late changes can interrupt procurement and sequencing, particularly where several trades depend on one another.

It also helps to ask for alternatives where appropriate. There may be several commercial flooring, decoration or ceiling specifications capable of achieving the required appearance and durability at different price points.

Finally, compare quotations on a like-for-like basis. A lower quotation is not necessarily better value if important preparation, protection, waste, flooring or building-services work has simply been excluded.

Budget for disruption as well as construction

The cheapest construction programme is not always the cheapest solution for the business.

If refurbishment work prevents a department from operating, closes meeting rooms for longer than expected or creates repeated disruption because trades have not been properly sequenced, the indirect cost can matter just as much as the contractor's invoice.

For live commercial premises, discuss the operational requirements during the initial site visit.

Can areas be completed one at a time?

Can noisy work be scheduled away from important meetings?

Does furniture need moving before each phase?

Will staff need temporary facilities?

A defined programme allows those questions to be answered before work begins.

Common budgeting mistakes

One of the most common mistakes is obtaining a headline figure too early and treating it as fixed.

Other problems include failing to define the specification, comparing quotations that cover different scopes, forgetting about electrical or mechanical alterations and making significant design changes after work has started.

Another mistake is focusing heavily on visible finishes while overlooking preparation.

Commercial painting and decorating depends on proper surface preparation if the finish is expected to withstand everyday use. Spending more on a decorative finish while reducing the preparation behind it can be a false economy.

The same principle applies across refurbishment: spend where it improves durability, functionality and long-term usability rather than simply choosing the cheapest individual item.

Planning an office refurbishment in Hampshire

For businesses in Southampton, Portsmouth, Winchester and elsewhere across Hampshire, the best way to establish a realistic refurbishment cost is to begin with the premises rather than a national average.

Identify what needs changing, inspect the existing condition and separate essential works from optional improvements.

From there, the contractor can develop a scope, quotation and programme based on the actual site.

Cosgrove Painting Contractors is a Southampton-based commercial painting and refurbishment contractor with more than 25 years' experience. The business coordinates decoration, flooring, tiling, joinery and certified plumbing and electrical trades for refurbishment projects, with Steve and Dominic Cosgrove providing owner-managed accountability. Cosgrove is also Constructionline Silver accredited and SMAS registered.

For facilities managers and business owners, using one contractor to coordinate the various trades can also reduce the amount of day-to-day project management required internally.

Getting an accurate office refurbishment price

Published cost guides are useful for establishing whether an early budget is broadly realistic, but they cannot replace a detailed project quotation.

Before asking "What is the cost per square foot?", ask:

What exactly needs to be refurbished?

What can be retained?

Which services need altering?

What level of finish is required?

Will the building remain occupied?

Who is responsible for coordinating each trade?

Once those questions have been answered, the quotation becomes far more meaningful.

If you are planning an office refurbishment in Southampton, Hampshire or the surrounding area, Cosgrove Painting Contractors can help define the required work and provide a clear, itemised quotation for the project.

Frequently asked questions

How much does an office refurbishment cost per square foot in the UK?

There is no universal rate. Published UK guides cover a very wide range because the definition of "refurbishment" varies substantially. Current benchmarks range from relatively modest refurbishment rates through to all-in fit-outs exceeding £250 per square foot at higher specifications.

For accurate budgeting, define what is included before applying any rate to the floor area.

How long does an office refurbishment take?

It depends on the size, specification, condition of the building and number of trades involved.

A decorating and flooring project requires a very different programme from a refurbishment involving partitions, ceilings, electrical works, kitchens and WCs. Ask the contractor for a defined project programme once the scope has been agreed rather than relying on a generic timeframe.

Can an office refurbishment be completed outside normal working hours?

Some work can be programmed outside normal business hours where appropriate. Cosgrove plans refurbishment work around occupied commercial premises and can consider phased or flexible working arrangements as part of the agreed programme.

Any access restrictions or working-hour requirements should be discussed before the quotation is finalised.

Do we need to close the office during refurbishment?

Not necessarily.

Depending on the layout and type of work, the refurbishment may be divided into phases so parts of the premises remain operational. The practicality of this will depend on the work involved, noise, dust, access and health and safety considerations.

What should be included in an office refurbishment quotation?

The quotation should clearly describe the agreed work, materials or specification where appropriate, major exclusions and how different trade packages are being handled.

It should also make clear whether items such as furniture, IT equipment, specialist surveys, professional fees and VAT are included where relevant.

Can one contractor manage all the refurbishment trades?

Yes, depending on the contractor's capabilities.

Cosgrove coordinates the trades required for its managed office refurbishment projects, including painting and decorating, flooring, tiling, joinery, ceiling works and certified plumbing and electrical trades.

This gives the client one point of contact rather than requiring the facilities manager or business owner to coordinate several separate contractors.