How to check office space before leasing?

A common organisational mistake is to bring the architect into the process late and MEP designers only after the lease has been signed. Ventilation, power or fire-safety constraints then surface at the point when they can no longer be converted into a negotiation argument.

1. Longlist

   Area and measurement method, floor plan, building class, declared ventilation and power parameters, timing of availability and indicative service charge.

2. Shortlist

   Test fit, site visit with designers, as-built records, building fit-out guidelines and an initial fit-out budget.

3. Heads of terms

   Handover condition, landlord works, fit-out contribution, deadlines and MEP reserves confirmed in writing.

4. Lease agreement

   Handover schedule, handover protocol, design-approval procedure, nominated contractors, acceptance rules and make-good requirements at the end of the lease.

The package below is enough to verify the most important constraints without moving into a full technical audit. If the landlord cannot provide some of the data, agree immediately who will confirm it and by when.

Benefit: good documentation shortens the route from viewing to a reliable decision. Instead of adding large contingencies for the unknown, you can price the actual scope.

In market practice, Class A normally means a building that combines a good location and access, modern systems with individual control, sufficient clear height for a comfortable fit-out, backup power, 24/7 security and access control, an environmental certification and professional management. The most important question, however, is not “what class is it?” but “when were the systems installed and when were they last modernised?”.

Benefit: a Class B building after a thorough MEP modernisation can be a better tenant choice than a formally higher-class building with equipment at the end of its service life. Condition and spare capacity matter more than the label in the brochure.

On the Polish office market, BOMA and IPMS are the most common measurement standards, with PN-ISO 9836 used less often. They differ in how walls, columns, recesses, external walls and technical rooms are treated. A lease usually refers to the chargeable or lettable area, which is the unit area plus an allocated share of the building’s common areas.

For a 723 m² office, each percentage point of difference in the add-on factor represents roughly 7 m² of additional chargeable area. Over a five-year lease this is a real budget item, yet it is one of the easiest parameters to check before commercial negotiations close.

The facade module determines the practical width of rooms along the perimeter because a partition normally needs to meet a facade mullion. With a 1.35 m module, an office may be 2.70 m or 4.05 m wide, with very little flexibility in between. With a 1.50 m module, the equivalent widths are 3.00 m and 4.50 m. This one number can determine how many offices and meeting rooms can sit against daylight.

Floor slab loading

Office areas generally fall into use category B under structural design standards. In market practice, landlords often declare 2.5–3.0 kN/m² imposed load plus a separate allowance of around 1.0 kN/m² for lightweight partitions. Non-standard uses need separate confirmation.

For a company of 75 people with a mixed work model, the full programme in our reference case requires around 723 m², or 9.6 m² per person. This includes workstations, offices and team rooms, 22 meeting seats, 8 quiet-work seats, kitchen, circulation and technical support areas. “75 desks” on its own would therefore be the wrong benchmark.

What should raise questions immediately on the plan

If one office is 5–10% larger but its geometry allows the entire programme to fit without compromise, it may be a better choice than a smaller floorplate with apparently lower rent. Comparison only becomes meaningful when the same programme is applied to every option.

Estimate your own requirement with the office test-fit and workplace capacity calculator.

Occupational health and safety requirements also apply to the room itself. Polish regulations require at least 13 m³ of free room volume and 2 m² of free floor area per employee, subject to minimum room-height requirements. In dense open-plan layouts with low ceilings, this can restrict headcount more than the nominal floor area.

Four questions that close the ventilation topic

1. Design occupancy

   How many people was the floor designed for and how much of that capacity is allocated to your unit?

2. Zoning

   Can new rooms be connected to existing zones without major duct modifications?

3. Meeting rooms

   Do high-occupancy rooms have separate control and enough fresh air for peak use?

4. After-hours operation

   Does ventilation operate outside standard hours, on what basis and at what cost?

Benefit: if a capacity shortfall is found before lease signature, part of the work can be negotiated into the landlord’s scope or the company can choose an alternative unit that does not require a major ventilation rebuild.

If the company operates a laboratory, recording studio, extensive multimedia systems or other high-load equipment, available electrical capacity should be a selection criterion rather than a problem left until after the lease is signed.

After room partitions move, the luminaire layout almost never matches the new workstations perfectly. The real question is whether a proportion of fittings can simply be relocated within the existing ceiling grid or whether the whole lighting system and controls need to be redesigned. This is one of the most common differences between the price of a “ready” unit and its real adaptation cost.

Existing-office acoustics should be assessed early because correcting them after occupation is expensive and constrained. An absorptive ceiling, carpet, acoustic treatments and correctly built partitions up to the structural soffit should form part of the fit-out scope rather than be added later in response to complaints.

Office areas in Poland are generally classified under the ZL III occupancy category. This drives requirements for fire-compartment sizes, travel distances, escape-route widths and fire-protection systems. Any new room layout has to remain within those requirements — something that cannot be confirmed by visual inspection alone.

This is often one of the most cost-sensitive disciplines when the room layout changes. For the reference office of around 723 m², an extended scope of life-safety and automation modifications increases the preparation budget by about PLN 233,000 (PLN 322/m²). If selected meeting-room and office glazing also needs fire resistance, with roughly 20% of the glazing affected, the difference can reach about PLN 494,000 (PLN 683/m²).

Benefit: confirming fire-safety requirements before signing separates a unit that is genuinely ready for adaptation from one whose existing fit-out only looks ready.

For our 75-person reference office we assume a server room of around 6 m², two racks and approximately 5 kW of power. If the organisation requires around 10 m², four racks, approximately 10 kW and stronger dedicated cooling, the preparation budget for the same office rises by roughly PLN 263,000 (PLN 364/m²).

What to check beyond the room itself

Benefit: IT requirements should be known before the unit is selected. Existing routes, cooling and power then become an advantage of the space rather than another budget line.

This is not a reason to reject a modern office building. It is, however, essential to know which components are connected to the central system, who is authorised to programme them, how changes are priced and how long commissioning takes. This commonly affects temperature controllers, fan-coil units, meters, lighting controls and interfaces with alarm systems.

The nominated-contractor list is often underestimated even though it has a direct effect on budget and programme. If sprinklers, fire alarm, voice alarm and BMS can only be modified by one appointed company, that company’s availability becomes part of the project’s critical path regardless of how efficient the general contractor is.

A raised floor, modular suspended ceiling and well-organised service routes usually make alteration easier. Dense existing ductwork, deep structural beams or poor maintenance access can limit the ability to add rooms even when everything fits on the plan.

If the existing kitchen suits the company’s programme, retaining it can be one of the larger savings in the project. If it needs to move to the opposite side of the floorplate, both cost and technical risk increase. The same applies to additional sinks, plumbed-in coffee machines, dishwashers, showers and water points in specialist rooms.

For around 723 m², moving from a unit already prepared for a standard fit-out to a scenario that requires additional base-build works increases the preparation budget by about PLN 245,000 (PLN 339/m²).

The lease documents should therefore contain a clear handover-condition schedule: what the landlord delivers, by when, to what standard and how acceptance is confirmed. “Office ready for fit-out” is not a handover specification. Separately, the parties should agree the make-good or reinstatement requirement at lease expiry. This obligation can return years later as an unplanned cost.

For the same reference office of around 723 m², we modelled refurbishment with different levels of retained existing work. The more partitions, systems, lighting and equipment can be reused without compromising the new organisation, the lower the entry budget.

Benefit: before negotiations, calculate the value of what can stay. Existing partitions, glazing or services are not valuable merely because they are present — they are valuable when they suit the new programme and are in a condition that allows continued use.

For the reference office of around 723 m², moving disruptive work mainly to night hours increases the preparation budget by around PLN 118,000 (PLN 163/m²). With difficult logistics and additional restrictions, the difference rises to around PLN 236,000 (PLN 326/m²).

The service charge covers operation of common areas, building utilities, security, cleaning, MEP servicing, insurance, management and taxes. It is usually paid on account and reconciled against actual annual costs. Four areas are worth reviewing before signing.

1. History, not forecast

   Ask for the budgets and reconciliations for the previous two years, not only the projected rate for the next year.

2. Scope of recoverable costs

   Check whether repairs and equipment replacements are passed through to tenants and to what extent.

3. Cap on increases

   A negotiated cap on annual growth improves predictability over the lease term.

4. Tenant utilities

   Confirm what is separately metered and how after-hours operation of building systems is charged.

If the company reports environmental data, access to utility consumption and the building’s certification requirements stop being optional extras and become feasibility criteria. This should be clarified at shortlist stage because some buildings cannot provide consumption data split by tenant.

Shell and core

A condition where the building structure, facade and core are complete and base services are brought to the unit boundary. The internal fit-out remains with the tenant.

Cat A

An open-plan finished condition with floor, ceiling, lighting, ventilation and cooling but no final room subdivision.

Cat A+

A ready-made fit-out prepared by the landlord, often including furniture, so that a tenant can move in with limited additional work.

Cat B

A full fit-out delivered for a specific tenant and its functional programme.

Fit-out

The complete design and construction scope required to make office space usable for the tenant.

Test fit

An initial functional layout prepared on a specific floor plan to verify whether the company’s programme fits.

Workplace capacity

The number of workstations and supporting rooms that can realistically fit while meeting the required standards.

Add-on factor

The percentage of common-area allocation added to the unit area to determine the chargeable lease area.

BOMA / IPMS

International building measurement standards that differ in the treatment of walls, columns and common areas.

Service charge

A charge covering building operating costs, usually paid on account and reconciled against actual annual expenditure.

Landlord fit-out contribution

An amount provided by the landlord towards the tenant’s office preparation works.

Rent-free period

A period when base rent is waived, often used during fit-out or at the beginning of the lease.

Make good / reinstatement

The tenant’s obligation to return the unit to an agreed condition at the end of the lease.

Fire alarm system (Polish: SSP)

Detectors, control panels and devices used to detect and signal a fire condition.

Voice alarm / EVAC (Polish: DSO)

A voice communication system that broadcasts evacuation messages during an emergency.

Fire compartment

A part of a building separated by fire-resisting construction and subject to its own fire-safety limits.

Escape travel within a room

The route from the furthest point in a room to the exit leading onto an escape route.

Escape route

The route from a room exit to the final exit from the building or to another fire compartment.

BMS

Building Management System controlling ventilation, cooling, lighting, metering and alarms.

MMR

Meet-me room: the telecoms interface point where operator services enter the building.

UGR

Unified Glare Rating; a measure of discomfort glare from lighting. Lower values mean lower glare.

Reverberation time

The time sound takes to decay in a room; a key parameter in interior acoustic design.

As-built documentation

Drawings and descriptions reflecting the systems and construction as actually completed.

Fit-out guidelines

Building-management rules governing design, approvals, construction works and acceptance procedures.