What is a test-fit, and when do you need one before signing an office lease?
- Businesses
Written by blng studio, for founders and operations leads comparing office floors.
What is a test-fit in architecture?
Architects, interior designers and fit-out contractors all use the term. A test-fit takes what you need, written down as a brief, and lays it out on a real floor plan, usually the plan from the agent's or landlord's particulars. The aim isn't a finished layout. It's an answer to one question: does our brief fit on this floor, and if not, what has to give?
We treat a test-fit as a small feasibility study for an office floor, in the sense of the RIBA Plan of Work 2020, the framework architects use for the stages of a project. The Plan of Work says Stage 1 "includes ensuring that the brief can be accommodated on the site", and that feasibility studies are carried out "to verify whether a site can accommodate the client's needs, or to test a particular aspect of the brief, allowing the brief to be honed as required." It also says plainly: "Feasibility Studies are not part of the design process." That's a good description of a test-fit. It tests the brief; the design comes later.
A test-fit is only as good as the brief behind it. If you haven't written one yet, start with how to write an office fit-out brief and how much office space you need.
What a test-fit shows
A useful test-fit drawing shows, on the real plan:
- Desks. How many, in what arrangement, for your busiest normal day rather than your total headcount. The drawing should say what desk size and spacing it assumed.
- Meeting rooms. The rooms from your brief, by size, and where they can go without blocking daylight or routes.
- Support space. Kitchen and breakout, storage and lockers, a comms room, print, phone booths or focus rooms. These are the spaces most often squeezed out of a first layout.
- The core and fixed elements. Lifts, stairs, toilets, risers and columns can't move. A test-fit shows how they shape the floor, and where awkward corners or narrow strips are left over.
- Escape routes. Clear routes from every part of the floor to the stairs. A test-fit shouldn't block them with rooms or furniture. Whether the routes meet Building Regulations is a separate question for the fire strategy (see below).
- Daylight. Which parts of the floor are near a window and which are deep inside. A deep floor plate often suits meeting rooms or storage in the middle, with desks at the edge.
It should also say, in a sentence or two, what has to give: for example, "the brief fits with two fewer meeting rooms", or "it fits if desks are shared at your peak attendance".
The questions a test-fit answers
A good test-fit lets you answer, floor by floor:
- Does the brief fit? Yes, no, or yes with named compromises.
- What's the real capacity? How many desks and rooms this floor holds with your brief, not the number in the particulars.
- Which floor is better? Two floors with the same area can hold quite different layouts. Columns, a deep plate, an awkward core or narrow wings all cost usable space.
- What do we need to ask the landlord? The test-fit shows where the Cat A specification, the services or the terms matter: whether the air conditioning can serve meeting rooms in the middle of the floor, for instance, or whether the landlord's ceiling will need to change. Our guide to Cat A vs Cat B fit-out covers what to pin down.
- Does the brief need to change? Sometimes the honest answer is that the brief was too generous. That's fine, as long as you change it on purpose.
When to get a test-fit: before heads of terms
The best time is after you've shortlisted floors and before you agree heads of terms. Heads of terms set out the deal before the lease is drafted, and in England and Wales the RICS Code for leasing business premises expects them to answer, among other things, "What initial works/fit out will the landlord be completing and when?" and "What rights does the tenant have to make alterations to the premises?" A test-fit gives you something concrete to ask those questions about.
Leave it until after you've signed, and the test-fit can only tell you how to make the best of a floor you've already committed to. Get it before you ask fit-out contractors for proposals, too, so they all price the same layout.
A practical sequence:
- Write the brief. Headcount at peak, how you meet, the support space you need.
- Shortlist floors. Compare up to three on the same basis. Our free office floor scorecard helps here.
- Test-fit the shortlist. One test-fit for the front-runner, or one per floor if it's close.
- Agree heads of terms, with the questions the test-fit raised.
- Then design the fit-out, starting from the test-fit and the brief.
What you need for a test-fit
Less than you might think. The agent's or landlord's floor plans are usually enough for a test-fit, together with your brief. It helps to have:
- the floor plan as a scaled PDF or drawing file, with the core, columns and windows shown;
- the particulars, including the area and the Cat A specification if there is one;
- your peak attendance, the meeting rooms you need and your support space;
- a site visit, if possible, to check what the plan doesn't show: ceiling heights, the view, how bright the deep middle actually is.
What a test-fit doesn't do
A test-fit is deliberately quick. It is not:
- A full design. It doesn't choose finishes, furniture or the look of the place, and it doesn't produce drawings to build from. Fit-out design is a separate piece of work.
- A fire strategy or building control approval. In England, Approved Document B sets out the guidance on fire safety, including means of escape, for buildings other than dwellings. A test-fit keeps routes clear, but whether a layout complies is for the fit-out designer, the fire strategy and building control.
- A survey or a lease review. It works from the plans you have. It won't find defects, and it won't tell you whether the lease terms are reasonable. Our office lease checklist covers the lease questions, and a solicitor should review the lease.
- Services design. It can flag where the heating, cooling, ventilation or power may need to change for your layout. It doesn't design them.
- A quote. It isn't a fit-out price, though it's a good basis for asking contractors to price the same thing.
A word on free test-fits. Some agents and fit-out contractors offer a test-fit as part of winning the work. That can be useful. Just check which brief it tested, and whether it was drawn to show the floor at its best or your needs as they are.
How to read a test-fit you've been given
If someone sends you a test-fit, a few questions sort a useful one from a sales drawing:
- Which brief did it test? Your headcount and rooms, or a generic layout?
- Peak or total? Are the desks sized for your busiest normal day?
- What did it assume? Desk size, spacing and room sizes should be stated.
- Is the base plan real? The core, columns, risers and windows should come from the building's plan, not be tidied away.
- Are the routes clear? Can you trace a clear route from every desk to a stair?
- What's missing? Count the support space: storage, lockers, the comms room, the kitchen.
- What has to give? If the drawing doesn't say, ask.
Test-fits in the Workspace Brief Sprint
A test-fit is part of our Workspace Brief Sprint. It includes one test-fit on a shortlisted floor, showing whether your brief fits, alongside a requirements brief, a hybrid headcount and space model, an indicative Cat A / Cat B budget range and a list of questions for your landlord. You get a PDF report and a 1-hour review call, and one site visit within Greater London is included.
The sprint is from £2,450 + VAT for a floor of up to about 465 m². Extra test-fits are £750 + VAT each, if you want to compare more than one floor. Target delivery is 10 working days from the Start Date. It isn't a fit-out contract or quote, a full design, a lease review, a building survey or M&E design, and we don't carry out fit-out works.
Frequently asked questions
What is a test fit in architecture?
A quick layout of a client's brief on the floor plan of a building they're considering, to check whether the brief fits and what has to give if it doesn't. We treat it as a small feasibility study for an office floor: in RIBA Plan of Work terms, a check at Stage 1, before design starts.
What does an office test-fit include?
Usually a plan showing desks for the peak day, meeting rooms, support space such as the kitchen, storage and comms room, the core and columns, clear routes to the stairs, and a short note of what fits and what doesn't.
When should I get a test-fit?
After you've shortlisted floors and before you agree heads of terms or ask fit-out contractors for proposals, while you still have choices.
Do I need drawings for a test-fit?
The agent's or landlord's floor plans are usually enough, together with your brief. A scaled plan showing the core, columns and windows helps.
Is a test-fit the same as a space plan?
Not quite. A test-fit checks whether your brief fits on a floor you haven't committed to yet. A space plan is usually the more developed layout for the floor you've chosen, and it's often the first step of the fit-out design.
Can a test-fit tell me if a floor meets fire regulations?
No. It keeps escape routes clear, but whether a layout meets the fire safety requirements of the Building Regulations (with guidance in Approved Document B) is checked through the fit-out design, the fire strategy and building control.
Sources
- RIBA, RIBA Plan of Work 2020 Overview (Stage 1, Preparation and Briefing; feasibility studies).
- Approved Document B: fire safety, Volume 2: Buildings other than dwellings.
- RICS, Code for leasing business premises, England and Wales, 1st edition: Appendix A2 checklist.
Weighing up a floor?
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