Refurbishment in Oxfordshire
Work phased around the people still using the building. Cat A and Cat B fit out, structural alterations and services upgrades, sequenced to keep the doors open.
- Contract range
- £50k – £2m
- Typical programme
- 12 – 40 weeks
In short
Refurbishment is construction inside a building that already exists, and usually inside one that is still being used while we work.
FF Construction refurbishes offices, medical premises, retail units and industrial buildings across Oxfordshire and the Thames Valley, from £50,000 to £2m. The technical work is rarely the hard part. The sequencing is — which is why the programme is written before the price.
Scope
What does refurbishment include?
From a single floor recovered between tenancies to a whole building stripped back to the frame.
- Cat A fit out to landlord specification
- Cat B fit out, partitions, ceilings and joinery
- Structural alterations, openings and load transfers
- Mechanical and electrical services upgrades
- Full internal strip-outs and asbestos coordination
- Phased and out-of-hours programmes
- Fire compartmentation and life safety upgrades
- Decoration, floor finishes and making good
Choosing
Refurbishment vs new build
The question is almost always whether the existing frame, the floor-to-ceiling heights and the services are worth keeping.
Where they are, refurbishment is cheaper, quicker and far less disruptive to a business that has to keep trading. Where they are not, spending money on a building that will still be the wrong shape afterwards is the expensive option.
Option A
Refurbishment
- Keeps the existing frame and envelope
- Building can stay partly in use throughout
- Shorter programme, lower cost per square metre
- Rarely needs full planning permission
- Constrained by the structure you have
Option B
New build
- Starts from a cleared or undeveloped site
- Requires decant or a site you are not using
- Longer programme, higher capital cost
- Full planning and building control route
- No constraint beyond the site itself
Process
Five stages, around your operation
The survey stage is where refurbishment contracts are won or lost. We do not price one without it.
Site visit and survey
Free, about an hour. We look at access, the existing services, and what has to keep running while we work.
Phasing plan
How the work is broken up, which areas come out of use and when, and what happens out of hours rather than in them.
Fixed price
A written price against an agreed scope, with the opening-up provisional sums stated rather than buried.
Phased construction
A named site manager, dust and noise managed to the agreed hours, and a weekly look-ahead so you know what is coming.
Handover by phase
Each area handed back as it completes, with certificates and O&M information, rather than everything at the end.
FAQs
Refurbishment questions
Anything not covered here, ask on the site visit.
Other services
Design & Build
One contract, concept to handover.
Design and build in OxfordNew Build
Groundworks to practical completion.
New build commercial construction
Start a project
Get a phasing plan
and a price
Tell us what you are planning. We will walk the site, give you a budget range and a programme, and tell you honestly whether refurbishment is the right route.