Office Renovation Dubai: Commercial Fit Out and Refurbishment
Renovel renovates and refurbishes offices across Dubai business districts, from a single meeting room to a full-floor Category B fit out. We handle space planning and design, the landlord NOC, the Dubai Municipality, DDA, Trakhees or free zone permit, the Civil Defence submission, and every trade on site, phased so your business keeps running while the work happens.
Refurbishment, Category A or Category B: Which One You Need
Dubai landlords, agents and contractors use these terms constantly and rarely define them, which is why quotations for the same office can differ by a factor of three. Here is what each one actually buys, with the rate the Dubai market currently attaches to it.
Office refurbishment
An existing, occupied office brought back up to standard without changing the plan: new flooring and ceiling tiles, repainting, refreshed lighting, replacement workstations, and repairs to partitions and joinery. The right answer when the layout still works and the space simply looks tired.
Category A fit out
A shell-and-core unit brought to a lettable base condition: raised floors or screed, suspended ceilings, general lighting, base HVAC distribution, fire detection and sprinklers, and finished common cores. Usually the landlord scope, and usually what you inherit on day one.
Category B fit out
The office you actually occupy, built on top of Category A: glass and blockwork partitions, meeting and board rooms, reception, breakout and pantry, branded joinery, feature ceilings and lighting, data and power distribution, AC modification, and acoustic treatment.
Premium turnkey fit out
Executive floors, client-facing headquarters and regulated environments: stone and timber finishes, bespoke joinery throughout, integrated AV and room booking, acoustic glazing, specialist lighting and full building management integration.
Most tenants moving into a Dubai tower inherit Category A and pay for Category B. Most tenants staying put need a refurbishment with a partial Category B overlay. We tell you which one your space needs at the survey, including when the honest answer is that a repaint and new flooring will do.
The Office Fit Out Process
Nine stages, with approvals sitting deliberately before mobilisation. In commercial work the permit stage is the one that decides whether you make your move-in date.
Site Survey and Brief
We survey the floor plate, record the existing ceiling grid, sprinkler and detector positions, AC zoning, riser and comms room locations, and check the landlord fit-out guide. Headcount, growth plan and meeting-room demand come out of the same conversation.
Space Planning and Design
Test-fits against your headcount, then the design: workstation layout, meeting and focus rooms, reception, pantry and breakout, plus finishes, branding and lighting concepts with 3D visuals so the board can approve a picture rather than a plan.
Fixed Scope and Programme
A line-by-line scope with named products, quantities, exclusions and a programme showing the critical path. Businesses need dates as much as numbers, because the lease on the old space rarely waits.
Authority Approvals
Landlord and building management NOC first, then the planning authority submission to Dubai Municipality, the Dubai Development Authority, Trakhees or your free zone, and a parallel Dubai Civil Defence submission, which every commercial premises needs.
Strip-Out and Enabling
Existing partitions, ceilings, flooring and redundant services removed, usually out of hours in a live building. Lift bookings, loading bay slots, protection and waste routes are agreed with facilities management before mobilisation.
MEP First Fix
Power and lighting circuits, containment, structured cabling, AC ductwork and diffusers, sprinkler drops and detector relocation, all set out against the new ceiling grid and coordinated so the fire and cooling zones follow the new rooms.
Partitions, Ceilings and Finishes
Glass and drywall partitions, acoustic insulation, suspended and feature ceilings, flooring, wall finishes and paint. Acoustic performance between meeting rooms and open plan is specified here, not fixed later.
Joinery, Furniture and Second Fix
Reception counter, storage walls, pantry units, workstations and loose furniture installed, followed by light fittings, switches, sockets, floor boxes, ironmongery, signage and AV terminations.
Testing, Inspection and Handover
Civil Defence and authority inspections, electrical and AC commissioning, snagging closed, deep clean, then handover with as-built drawings, warranties, test certificates and the operations and maintenance file.
Dubai Approvals for Commercial Work
Office work carries one more layer than residential renovation, and getting the sequence wrong is the most common reason a Dubai fit out misses its date.
Landlord and building management
The first gate. Building management reviews your contractor trade licence, third-party liability insurance, method statement, drawings and worker lists, then issues the fit-out NOC and sets the rules: permitted hours, lift and loading bay bookings, hot works permits, protection standards and a refundable fit-out deposit. Prime towers also charge supervision fees.
The planning authority
Which one depends on the address. Dubai Municipality covers most of the city through the BPS portal, which only a registered engineering consultant can submit through. The Dubai Development Authority covers Business Bay and the TECOM clusters including Internet City, Media City and d3. Trakhees covers Jebel Ali, Palm Jumeirah and other PCFC areas. Free zones such as DMCC and DIFC run their own routes.
Dubai Civil Defence
Always required for commercial premises, and always additional. The DCD submission runs in parallel with the planning authority and covers fire detection, sprinkler modification, emergency lighting, escape routes, fire-rated partitions and materials certification. Final DCD inspection is a condition of handover and of your occupancy.
Budget roughly AED 3,000 to 9,000 in total government and authority fees for a standard commercial fit out, plus consultant drawings and the landlord deposit. DEWA load amendments and telecom provisioning with Etisalat or du are handled alongside. Renovel prepares and lodges every submission, and holds the relationship with building management for the duration. The residential equivalent is explained on our Dubai renovation services page.
Office Renovation Design: What We Plan Before We Build
A fit out is only as good as the plan behind it. These are the decisions that separate an office people want to come into from an expensive one they avoid.
Density and test-fits
Dubai offices commonly plan at roughly 80 to 120 sqft per person for open plan, before meeting rooms and support space. We test-fit two or three densities against your headcount and growth plan so the lease you sign, or the floor you keep, is the right size.
Meeting room ratio
The most common complaint in a finished office is too few small rooms. Hybrid working shifted demand from one large board room towards several two to four person rooms and call booths. We plan the ratio around your actual calendar data where you have it.
Acoustics
Glass partitions look excellent and perform poorly unless specified properly. Double glazed acoustic partitions, full-height plasterboard returns to slab, acoustic ceiling tiles and floor closures are what stop meeting rooms leaking into open plan.
Reception and brand
Reception is the only part of the office most clients ever see. Feature joinery, backlit signage, stone or timber cladding and controlled lighting do more for perceived quality per dirham than anything spent deeper in the floor plate.
Lighting and AC comfort
Lighting is reset against the new partition layout rather than left on the old grid, and AC diffusers, returns and thermostat zones are moved to match the new rooms. A meeting room with no return air is unusable by the second hour.
Data, power and AV
Floor boxes and containment planned around the furniture layout, comms room cooling and rack space checked early, and AV, video conferencing and room booking panels coordinated with the joinery so cabling is concealed.
Design and build sit under one contract with us, but the design stage can also be taken on its own. See office interior design in Dubai for the design service, and custom office furniture for reception counters, storage walls and workstations made in our own workshop.
Office Renovation Cost in Dubai: A Quick Orientation
Commercial work is priced per square foot of net internal area. Refurbishment and Category A run about AED 200 to 450 per sqft, standard Category B AED 450 to 800 per sqft, and premium turnkey AED 700 to 1,200 per sqft and above. A 4,000 sqft office at a standard Category B specification therefore sits broadly between AED 1.8 million and AED 3.2 million, and a straightforward refurbishment of the same floor between AED 800,000 and AED 1.8 million.
Location moves the number. The same scope in DIFC or Downtown commonly runs 20 to 25 percent higher than in JLT or Business Bay, driven by restricted working hours, building supervision charges, stricter material approvals and slower loading access. MEP scope is the other swing factor: relocating sprinklers, detectors and AC zoning to follow new rooms is invisible on a mood board and significant on a bill of quantities.
VAT at 5 percent is added to the contract sum, and landlord deposits sit outside it. For the full breakdown by trade, including partitions, ceilings, flooring, MEP and furniture, read our office renovation cost guide for Dubai. If you are still selecting a contractor, our overview of fit out companies in Dubai sets out what to check before signing.
Timelines, and Working Around a Live Business
| Scope | On site |
|---|---|
| Single room, meeting room or reception upgrade | 2 to 4 weeks |
| Light refurbishment, 2,000 to 3,000 sqft | 4 to 6 weeks |
| Category B fit out, 3,000 to 8,000 sqft | 8 to 14 weeks |
| Full floor, 8,000 to 15,000 sqft | 12 to 18 weeks |
| Premium turnkey headquarters | 16 to 24 weeks |
Add 3 to 6 weeks in front for design, landlord approval and authority permits, and treat long-lead items seriously: glass partition systems, imported furniture and specialist lighting routinely carry 8 to 12 week lead times and are ordered at design sign-off rather than when the partitions go up.
Where the office stays occupied, we zone the floor and move teams once rather than repeatedly, hoard the works area for dust and acoustic separation, keep live power, data and cooling running in the occupied zones, and push demolition, core drilling and floor preparation into evenings and weekends. Most Dubai towers mandate out-of-hours working for noisy trades in any case, so the programme is built around it from the start.
What Is Included, and What Is Not
Written the way it appears in our contracts, so a comparison between two fit out quotations is a fair one.
Included in the contract sum
- + Survey, test-fits, space planning, 3D visuals and the full technical drawing set
- + Landlord and building management NOC, planning authority submission to Dubai Municipality, DDA, Trakhees or your free zone, and the parallel Dubai Civil Defence submission
- + Strip-out, protection, out-of-hours working and waste removal to the building rules
- + All trades: partitions, ceilings, flooring, MEP, sprinklers, fire detection, joinery, glazing, painting and signage
- + Structured cabling containment, power distribution and coordination with your IT and AV contractors
- + Authority inspections, commissioning, testing and certification
- + Snagging, deep clean, as-built drawings, warranties and the operations and maintenance file at handover
Not included, quoted separately
- − VAT at 5 percent, added to the contract sum
- − Landlord fit-out deposits and supervision or FM charges, which are payable to the building and refunded after inspection
- − IT hardware, servers, switches and licensing, though we coordinate with your provider
- − Loose furniture and workstations unless listed as a supplied line item
- − DEWA load upgrade or new meter fees where the new layout exceeds the existing supply
- − Landlord reinstatement obligations at lease end, which are quoted separately when required
Why Renovel for Office Renovation in Dubai
Design and build in one contract
Space planning, visuals and technical drawings are ours, and so is the build. No handover gap between a designer and a contractor, and no arguing about who owns a coordination error.
Approvals run properly
Landlord NOC, planning authority and Civil Defence are lodged in the right order and chased daily. We hold the building management relationship so your office manager does not have to.
Joinery from our own workshop
Reception counters, storage walls, pantry units and meeting room tables are made in house, which shortens lead times and keeps a damaged panel a two-day problem rather than a two-month one.
Phased for occupied floors
Zoned programmes, hoarding, dust and acoustic separation, and out-of-hours noisy works. Businesses keep trading while the floor changes around them.
We work across Business Bay, DIFC, Downtown, JLT, Dubai Marina, Al Quoz, Deira and the free zones, and we deliver retail and hospitality projects under the same model through our commercial interior design team. Where you want the whole thing carried by one fixed price, see turnkey renovation. Send us the floor plan and your headcount and we will come back with a test-fit and a budget range.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between office renovation, refurbishment and fit out in Dubai?
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Office refurbishment upgrades an existing, usually occupied office without changing the plan: flooring, ceilings, lighting, paint and furniture. Office renovation is the broader term and normally includes some layout change. A Category A fit out takes a shell-and-core unit to a lettable base condition with raised floors, ceilings, general lighting, base HVAC and fire systems, and is usually the landlord scope. A Category B fit out is the tenant scope on top of it: partitions, meeting rooms, reception, pantry, branded joinery, data, AC modification and finishes. Renovel delivers all of them.
How much does an office renovation or fit out cost in Dubai in 2026?
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As an orientation, office refurbishment and Category A work run roughly AED 200 to 450 per sqft, a standard Category B fit out AED 450 to 800 per sqft, and premium or turnkey fit out AED 700 to 1,200 per sqft and above. Prime addresses such as DIFC and Downtown typically sit 20 to 25 percent above standard rates for the same scope because of building restrictions, out-of-hours working and supervision charges. Government and authority fees for a standard commercial fit out usually total AED 3,000 to 9,000. Our office renovation cost guide carries the full breakdown by trade.
What approvals does an office renovation need in Dubai?
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Three layers. First, landlord and building management approval, which involves submitting your contractor trade licence, insurance, method statement and drawings, and paying a refundable fit-out deposit. Second, the planning authority for your location: Dubai Municipality through the BPS portal for most of the city, the Dubai Development Authority for Business Bay and the TECOM districts, Trakhees for Jebel Ali and PCFC areas, or your own free zone such as DMCC or DIFC. Third, Dubai Civil Defence, which is always required for commercial premises and runs in parallel with the planning authority rather than replacing it. Renovel prepares and submits all of them.
Can you renovate our office while we keep working in it?
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Yes, and most of our commercial projects are phased that way. We divide the floor into zones and move teams once, work behind hoardings with dust and acoustic separation, and run noisy activities such as demolition, core drilling and floor preparation outside business hours or at weekends, which most Dubai buildings require anyway. Live power, data and AC are maintained in the occupied zones throughout, and each phase is handed back clean before the next one opens.
How long does an office fit out take in Dubai?
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On site, a small light refurbishment of 2,000 to 3,000 sqft takes about 4 to 6 weeks. A standard Category B fit out of 3,000 to 8,000 sqft takes 8 to 14 weeks. A large premium turnkey floor takes 16 to 24 weeks. Add 3 to 6 weeks in front for design, landlord approval and authority permits, and remember that Civil Defence and planning submissions run before mobilisation, not alongside it. Long-lead items such as glass partition systems, imported furniture and specialist lighting can carry 8 to 12 week lead times.
Do you handle office interior design as well as the build?
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Yes. Space planning, test-fits, 3D visuals, finishes and branding are done in house and then built by the same team under one contract, so nothing is lost between a designer and a contractor. If you need the design work separately, our office interior design service covers concept through to the technical drawing set, and it can be handed to another contractor if you prefer.
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