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Guide

The office fit-out technology checklist.

Cabling, security, networks and AV are the trades most likely to be remembered late in a fit-out — and the ones where 'late' is most expensive. Here is what to lock in at each stage, in order, so the technology lands with the joinery instead of after it.

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Why technology needs deciding earlier than you think

Most fit-out programs are built around the visible trades: partitions, ceilings, joinery, paint. The technology — data cabling, access control, CCTV, Wi-Fi, meeting room AV — lives above the ceilings and inside the walls, which means its real deadline is not practical completion. It is the day the ceilings close. Miss that and everything afterwards is rework.

The other long pole is the carrier. Internet circuits are ordered from telcos on their timeline, not yours, and no amount of urgency on your side compresses it. The two questions to ask on day one of any fit-out are: when do ceilings close, and has the internet been ordered.

Stage 1 — Before design starts

Decisions here cost nothing to make and a lot to unwind later.

  1. Order the internet connection. Carrier lead times are routinely the longest item in the whole program. Confirm what services exist to the building, what the building's riser and lead-in arrangements are, and get the order in before the designer has drawn a single wall.
  2. Get the floor plan in front of a cabling contractor. Even a draft. Workstation counts and locations drive the number of data points, and data points drive the cabling scope.
  3. Ask building management the boring questions. Approved contractors, induction requirements, after-hours work rules, riser access, whether the ceiling void is a shared plenum. Every one of these affects cost and program.
  4. Decide who owns technology in the project. If it is nobody's job, it becomes the builder's provisional sum — and provisional sums are where scope goes to hide.

Stage 2 — During design

The design phase is where technology gets coordinates. Things to pin down before drawings are issued for construction:

  1. The door schedule. Which doors get access control, which need fire-rated hardware preserved, which must release on alarm. This document coordinates four trades; agree it early and put someone's name on it.
  2. The comms room. Location, size, power, cooling and security. A comms cupboard jammed behind the kitchen with no ventilation is a decision you live with for the whole lease.
  3. Meeting and AV rooms. Screen positions, table boxes, ceiling microphones and the cabling each needs. AV cabling has to be in the wall before the plasterboard is.
  4. Wi-Fi and camera positions. Marked on the reflected ceiling plan alongside lights and diffusers, so they are coordinated rather than squeezed in.
  5. Fire system changes. New walls and rooms usually mean detector and occupant-warning changes. We coordinate these with our accredited fire partners — but they need to be in the design, not discovered at inspection.

Stage 3 — Before the ceilings close

This is the deadline that matters most and appears on no contract. Before ceilings and walls are sheeted, confirm:

  1. All data cabling runs are in, supported and labelled at both ends.
  2. Security cabling to every door, camera and detector position is roughed in.
  3. Back-boxes and conduits are in the wall frames at every outlet, screen and reader position.
  4. Any conduit for future capacity is in — empty conduit is cheap now and gold later.
  5. Penetrations through fire-rated walls are done and ready for proper fire-stopping.
  6. Someone has photographed the open ceilings. Those photos become your as-built record when memory fails.

Stage 4 — At fit-off

Once ceilings and walls are closed and painted, the visible hardware goes on:

  1. Outlets, readers, cameras, access points and AV hardware terminated and mounted.
  2. The comms room racked and patched — panels labelled to a scheme, not to whoever terminated fastest.
  3. Every cabling point tested and certified, with results kept, not just claimed.
  4. Access control programmed: doors, schedules, and who can open what.
  5. Fire fit-off and interface testing completed with our accredited fire partners, so doors release and warnings sound the way the design says.

Stage 5 — At handover

Handover is where good projects are separated from ones that merely finished. Do not accept practical completion on the technology without:

  1. Documentation. As-built drawings, cable schedules, test results, device lists with locations.
  2. Credentials. Admin passwords for every system — recorders, controllers, network gear — handed to you, changed from defaults, and recorded somewhere that survives staff turnover.
  3. Demonstrated testing. Watch doors lock and release, cameras record, alarms report. A walkthrough beats a certificate.
  4. Warranty and support terms in writing. Who you call when something fails, and what is covered.
  5. Training. Whoever will add staff cards and pull CCTV footage should do both before the installer leaves site.

The short version

Order the internet first. Get the cabling and security contractor into the design conversation before drawings are locked. Treat ceiling close as the real deadline. And do not sign off handover until the documentation and credentials are in your hands — the fit-out you can operate is worth more than the one that merely looks finished.

Common questions

When should we engage a technology contractor in a fit-out? +

Before the design is finalised, ideally when the floor plan is still a draft. Once the door schedule, comms room location and ceiling types are fixed, your options narrow and changes get expensive. A technology contractor reviewing drawings costs you a conversation; retrofitting cabling after the ceilings close costs you a lot more.

What is a door schedule and why does it matter? +

It is the list of every door in the tenancy with its hardware: which doors get electronic access control, which get locks only, which need fire ratings preserved, and which need to release on fire alarm. It sits at the junction of the builder, the door hardware supplier, the security contractor and the fire system — which is exactly why it gets muddled when nobody owns it.

What happens if the ceilings close before the cabling is in? +

The cabling still goes in — slower, at greater cost, and with more damage. Every run means lifting tiles or cutting plasterboard, patching and repainting. It is the single most avoidable cost blowout in fit-out technology, and it happens because cabling was treated as a fit-off trade instead of a rough-in trade.

Do we need landlord approval for tenancy technology works? +

Almost always for anything touching base-building services — risers, fire systems, ceilings on some floors — and many buildings require approved contractors and after-hours windows for certain works. Ask building management early. Approval lead times are a schedule risk, not a formality.

Planning a fit-out? Get the technology scoped before the ceilings decide it for you.

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