Renovating an office in Dubai without closing the business

An office floor in a Dubai tower is usually a sealed box: windows that do not open, one air-conditioning system for the whole floor, shared lifts and a building management that decides when noise is allowed and which lift materials use. Renovating an empty unit is a matter of sequence; renovating a floor that stays in use is a matter of separation, keeping works and people apart in air, sound, power and the routes they walk. Layout choices are covered in our office renovation and workspace ideas; this page is about running the job around a team that cannot stop. Our office renovation service agrees the phasing with the layout, in 3D, before the first partition comes down.

The floor is divided into zones, one is renovated while the team works in the others, and desks move across as each zone is handed back.

• Draw the zones from the services, not the furnitureA boundary should fall where the ceiling, lighting circuits and AC supply can be separated. If a new meeting room needs a new supply grille, the duct that feeds it decides its zone, which is why our office interior design team plans the phasing with the layout, not after it.
• Find the swing space firstSwing space is where the displaced team sits during each phase: a large meeting room, a training room or a cleared corner with temporary desks. It needs power, data and cooling before anyone moves in, so it is fitted before the first zone closes, and teams move across whole, over an evening or weekend the building allows.
• Start with the zone that unlocks the othersThe first zone is usually the one whose completion gives finished space for the next move, often the new meeting rooms, which then become the swing space for the open plan. The reception is usually left until late, so clients see a finished office.
• Finish and snag each zone before the next startsA zone is handed back only when it is complete: ceiling closed, lights and AC tested, floor laid, paint cured and the snagging list closed, because outstanding work means trades returning to an occupied area. Our snagging and handover checklist gives the inspection to run at each handback.

A floor without cooling empties fast in Dubai and a floor without data does not work at all, so temporary routes are planned before anything is disconnected.

With people on the floor, safety comes before finishes. Staff and visitors should see these arrangements.

Inside each zone the trades run in the same order as a full fit-out, finished completely before the next zone opens.

• Strip out, then the ceiling voidOld partitions, carpet and ceiling tiles come out first, in the agreed hours, and the ceiling void is dealt with while it is open: duct runs, cable trays, detector positions and the fixings for partition heads, so the ceiling is closed once.
• Partitions and glass before finishesGypsum partitions go up and are closed before finishing starts, because that is the dusty, noisy work. Glass follows once floor and ceiling levels are fixed; our glass partitions page covers framing, frosting and acoustic glazing, and glass set in channels can be dismantled later, which suits a leased floor.
• Services, then floor, paint and furniturePower, data, lighting and AC grilles are fitted and tested before the floor finish goes down and the walls are painted, so no finished surface is cut for a forgotten socket. Floor boxes and desk power follow the furniture plan, so returning desks land on live outlets.
• Joinery arrives ready to fitReception counters, storage walls, slatted panels and pantry units are made in our workshop from the approved 3D drawings and site measurements, then brought in and fitted, which keeps most of the cutting and assembly off a working floor. At Project Door Step the slatted walls, partitions and reception counter were made by our joinery team; see our bespoke joinery page.
• When closing for a short period is betterPhasing has costs of its own: dust walls, temporary feeds, repeated moves and work in restricted hours. For a small office, a floor where every zone shares one ceiling void and AC system, a job that replaces the whole ceiling or floor finish, or a team that can work from home for a stretch, a short full closure can be quicker, cleaner and less disruptive.
• What to ask the contractorAsk for a phasing plan with dates and the swing space marked, the dust and noise controls in writing, how power, data and AC stay live in each phase, who deals with the building and the authorities, what is reinstated at the end of the lease and who answers for the date. One contract carrying design, approvals, trades and handover keeps that answer simple, as our turnkey office fit-out page describes; our office fit-out page covers planning a floor around how a team works.

Project Design

Silicon Oasis, Dubai · 112 sqm · February 2020 - July 2020

A meeting room with a square wood-tone table, mesh chairs, a wall-mounted screen and a wall graphic, in a compact Silicon Oasis office with an open-ceiling design, frosted glass partitions, carpeting, flooring and design painting.

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Project Door Step

Silicon Oasis, Dubai · 112 sqm · October 2022 - December 2022

A coffee corner set into grey vertical slatted wall panels with a floating shelf, in a free zone tower office in Silicon Oasis fitted with new workspaces, meeting areas, flooring, bathrooms and soundproofing; the slatted walls, partitions and reception counter were made by our joinery team.

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