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Moving office in London is expensive, disruptive, and often unnecessary. An office refurbishment lets you keep the location your team and clients know while rebuilding the office around how you work now. This guide explains what a London office refurbishment involves, what it costs, and how to run one without stopping the business.
Refurbish or relocate
The first decision is whether your current building can give you what you need. An office refurbishment wins when the location works, the lease has life left in it, and the space is big enough once redesigned. Relocation wins when you need a different size or area, or when the building itself blocks the workplace you want.
The economics favour staying put more often than businesses expect. A move carries rent overlap, dilapidations on the old space, a fit out of the new one, and the hidden cost of downtime. A refurbishment concentrates spend on the workspace itself. We compare the two options in detail in our office refurbishment vs office relocation article.
What a London office refurbishment can include
Refurbishment scales to the job. At the lighter end it refreshes finishes, lighting, and furniture. At the fuller end it strips the floor back and rebuilds the layout, services, and design from scratch.
- Layout changes: opening up cellular space, adding meeting rooms, or rebalancing desks against collaboration areas for hybrid working.
- New finishes throughout: flooring, decoration, ceilings, and joinery that lift the feel of the space.
- Lighting and acoustics: layered lighting for screen work and calls, with acoustic treatment that keeps open plan workable.
- Reception and client-facing areas: the spaces that carry your brand hardest, rebuilt to earn it.
- Furniture: workstations, meeting furniture, and breakout settings chosen for the new layout rather than inherited from the old one.
Refurbishing while the business runs
Few London businesses can move out for an office refurbishment, and few need to. Contractors experienced in occupied buildings phase the works area by area, section off live zones, and shift noisy trades to evenings and weekends. Building management adds its own rules in multi-tenant buildings, from lift bookings to permitted hours, and a contractor who knows the drill keeps those constraints off your desk.
Some businesses can make alternative arrangements for their employees, allowing the site to be cleared while continuing to operate. This avoids the need for a phased approach, helping to prevent unnecessary extensions to the project programme and completion timeline.
Rap Interiors has refurbished offices across the capital this way, including projects for Vestey Holdings, Grosvenor Systems, and Hudl in Islington, along with a reception refurbishment for ASN and a corporate refurbishment for WE Soda completed in 2025.
For more information on Office Refurbishment in London: The Complete Guide talk to Rap Interiors