CAT B Fit Out, Done Properly
End-to-end CAT B fit outs across the UK. Backed by free site surveys, free CAD design, and a team that’s been delivering outstanding offices since 2009.
From Blank Canvas to Beautiful, Functional Office. Without the Stress.
Most businesses taking on a new commercial space know exactly what they want. They just don’t know how to get there, and that’s precisely where we come in.
Taking on a new office space is one of the most significant decisions a business makes. You’ve signed the paperwork, you’ve got the keys, and now you’re staring at bare concrete floors, exposed ceilings, and a shell of a room that’s supposed to become the place your team spends most of their working week.
Getting a CAT B fit out right means more than choosing paint colours and ordering furniture. It means space planning that makes every square foot count, partitioning that balances privacy with collaboration, and a finished environment that genuinely reflects your business, and actually works for the people inside it.
Here at ACI, we’ve been delivering CAT B office fit outs since 2009. We’ve worked with businesses of every size, from growing SMEs taking their first leased space to national brands refitting multi-floor commercial premises. In every case, our job is the same: take your CAT A space and turn it into somewhere your team wants to come in to.
We handle the entire process: Design, planning, project management, installation, and aftercare, so you don’t have to manage multiple contractors, interpret technical drawings, or worry about whether your fit out will be delivered on time and on budget.
And because we always start with a free site survey and free CAD plans, you can see exactly what your new office will look like before you commit to a single penny.
How Our CAT B Fit Out Service Works
UNDERSTAND
01
Every CAT B fit out starts with a conversation. We’ll visit your space, carry out a full site survey, and take the time to understand how your business actually works, how many people you need to accommodate, how they collaborate, what departments need to be close together, and what kind of environment you want to create. This is completely free, with no strings attached.
DESIGN
02
Using our detailed site survey, our design team will produce full CAD drawings of your proposed fit out to scale, fully dimensioned, and accurate enough to be used directly by our installation teams. You’ll be able to see your new office layout before a single wall goes up, approve the design, and request changes with complete confidence. This is also provided at no charge.
DELIVER
03
Once you’re happy with the design, our experienced fit out teams get to work. We manage every element of your CAT B fit out in-house. Partitioning, flooring, ceilings, joinery, decoration, electrics, and more, coordinating every trade so that your project runs smoothly, on time, and within the agreed budget. You’ll have a dedicated project manager as your single point of contact throughout.
AFTERCARE
04
We don’t hand you the keys and disappear. When your fit out is complete, your project manager will walk the space with you, sign off every element against our quality checklist, and make sure everything meets our standards before you move in. If anything needs attention after handover, we’ll be there.
CAT B Fit Outs Across Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, Birmingham and the Rest of the UK
ACI is based in Sandiacre, Nottingham, which puts us at the heart of the East Midlands and within straightforward reach of most of the UK’s major commercial centres.
We carry out CAT B fit outs across Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, Birmingham, Sheffield, and London, and we regularly work with businesses relocating to new premises, expanding into additional floors, or finally doing justice to a space that’s never quite worked for them.
If you’re taking on a new commercial space anywhere in the UK and you need a CAT B fit out specialist who will treat your project with the same care as every other job we deliver, not pass it off to a subcontractor and hope for the best, we’d like to hear from you.
Call us on 0115 939 7572 or complete the form below for a free, no-obligation consultation.
What is a CAT B Fit Out?
When a commercial building is handed over to a new tenant, it typically comes in one of two states.
A CAT A fit out (Category A) is a basic, landlord-delivered fit out. It covers the structural and essential mechanical and electrical elements like raised access flooring, suspended ceilings, perimeter trunking, basic lighting, heating and cooling, and finished internal surfaces. A CAT A space is habitable but not yet workable. It’s a blank canvas.
A CAT B fit out (Category B) is what turns that blank canvas into a functioning, finished workplace. It is the tenant’s fit out and the work carried out to make the space actually work for the business moving in.
A CAT B fit out typically covers:
- Internal partitioning: Glass, solid, or a combination
- Flooring finishes: Carpet, LVT, timber-effect, or polished concrete
- Suspended ceilings and feature ceiling treatments
- Upgraded lighting design and installation
- Kitchen and breakout areas
- Meeting rooms, boardrooms, and collaborative spacesReception area design and installation
- Joinery: Reception desks, storage, and bespoke built-ins
- Decoration, branding, and wall graphics
- IT infrastructure and data cabling
- Acoustic solutions
- Signage and wayfinding
- Office furniture procurement and installation
In short: if a CAT A space is the shell, a CAT B fit out is everything that makes it look, feel, and function like your office.
What’s Included in a CAT B Fit Out With ACI?
No two CAT B fit outs are the same and the right specification depends on your space, your headcount, how your teams work, and how you want the finished office to feel. What doesn’t change is the standard of work we deliver.
Below is an overview of the elements we typically cover on a CAT B fit out. If something you need isn’t on this list, ask us! The likelihood is we’ve done it before.
Space Planning and Design
Before a single product is specified or a trade is booked, we plan your space properly. Using your CAT A drawings and our site survey notes, we produce a detailed CAD layout showing exactly how your new office will be arranged with workstations, meeting rooms, breakout areas, storage, circulation routes, and all. We design around your headcount, your growth plans, and how your people actually work.
Partitioning
We supply and install a full range of internal partition systems from frameless glass partitions that keep a space open and light-filled, to solid demountable partitions for private offices, meeting rooms, and welfare facilities. We can also specify acoustic partitions where noise management is a priority, and fire-rated partitions where required by building regulations.
Flooring
We work across all commercial flooring types: carpet tiles, luxury vinyl tile (LVT), timber-effect planks, polished concrete, and anti-static flooring for technical environments. We’ll specify the right product for each zone from practical and durable in high-traffic areas, premium and considered in reception and client-facing spaces.
Ceilings
Whether your space calls for a standard suspended ceiling grid, an open-plan exposed soffit, or a feature ceiling treatment that adds character to a breakout or reception area, we design and install it. We also handle bulkheads, lighting coffers, and acoustic ceiling tiles where required.
Kitchen, Breakout and Welfare Areas
The kitchen and breakout area is often the most-used space in an office. We design and install fully fitted kitchens and tea points, breakout furniture areas, informal collaboration zones, and welfare facilities including all associated plumbing, electrical, and joinery work.
Meeting Rooms and Boardrooms
We design, partition, and fit out meeting rooms of all sizes from informal pods and huddle spaces to formal boardrooms with integrated AV, acoustic wall treatments, and bespoke joinery. Every room is planned to work acoustically as well as visually.
Reception Areas
Your reception is the first thing every client, candidate, and visitor sees. We design and install reception areas that make the right impression, including reception desks (bespoke or modular), feature walls, branded graphics, seating, and lighting.
Decoration and Branding
We manage all internal decoration as part of the fit out: Painting, wallcoverings, and decorative finishes throughout. We can also work with your brand guidelines to incorporate branded colour palettes, graphics, and wayfinding into the finished environment.
Mechanical and Electrical Works
We work alongside trusted M&E partners to manage lighting design and installation, power distribution, data cabling, heating and cooling connections, and fire and safety compliance. All coordinated within the main fit out programme so there are no delays and no conflicting trades on site.
Office Furniture
If you need office furniture such as desks, seating, storage, meeting tables, breakout furniture, or reception pieces, we can manage procurement and installation as part of the fit out, ensuring everything is in place for day one. We work with a number of commercial furniture suppliers and can specify to your budget.
Helping companies large and small to create inspired workspaces since 2009
Choose the top rated fit out company in the Midlands
Professional workmanship is first class, detail and design are perfect , ACI go above and beyond to help you achieve the perfect end result. we change are plan layout on numerous occasions which ACI corrected with no fuss. First class company
Facilities Manager, DSV
Really impressed with the entire ACI Team during our refit. Great design and planning, brilliant communication throughout brought the project in on (rapid) time and on budget. Excellent after-care since completion. Highly recommended.
Partner, Rhodes Wealth Management
ACI were the perfect partner for our project from start to finish. They listened to our challenging brief and worked with us every step of the way to enhance our ideas and deliver a truly amazing end result. The end result is exactly what we wanted to deliver and provides the perfect working environment for our team.
Director, Westrock plc