A new office is the one moment you can design technology from a clean sheet. It is also the moment when small omissions become expensive: a missing data drop behind a reception desk, a boardroom display wall without backing, or an internet circuit that arrives three weeks after your team does.
Most of these problems are not technical. They are sequencing problems. The technology decisions were made too late, after drawings were issued and walls were closed. This guide sets out the order we use when planning networks for office fit-ups, and what you need to decide at each stage.
Six months out: order the internet first
Internet circuits are usually the longest lead item in an office move. Depending on the building and carrier, a new fibre service can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months, especially if construction is needed to bring fibre into the building or up a riser.
- Confirm which carriers already serve the building, and whether there is fibre in the riser to your floor.
- Order a primary circuit and a diverse backup — ideally from a different carrier on a different physical path.
- Ask the landlord about riser access, telecom-room space and any approved-contractor rules.
Schematic design: give the designer a technology brief
While your architect or interior designer is laying out the space, they need to know how your team works. A one-page technology brief at this stage prevents most rework later.
- Headcount today and in three years, and how many people are in the office on a typical peak day.
- Room types: huddle rooms, meeting rooms, boardrooms, training rooms, phone booths.
- Which rooms need video conferencing, and on which platform (Microsoft Teams or Zoom).
- Security needs: access-controlled doors, cameras, a secure server or network room.
- Any specialist equipment — printers, lab equipment, digital signage, building systems.
Design development: drops, rooms and pathways
Once the layout is stable, the technology design turns that brief into drawings your contractor can price and build. This is where structured cabling, Wi-Fi and AV are designed together rather than separately.
Data drops
Every workstation, access point, display, camera, door reader, printer and phone needs a planned drop. We plan drops from the furniture layout and AV plan rather than using a generic count per desk, and add spare capacity where layouts are likely to change.
Wi-Fi
Access-point positions should come from a predictive Wi-Fi design based on your floor plan, wall materials and expected device density — not from evenly spaced dots on a ceiling plan. That design drives where cabling goes in the ceiling, so it needs to happen before the cabling drawings are final.
The telecom room
Your network room needs space for racks with service clearance, dedicated power, cooling appropriate to the equipment, and a pathway to the base-building riser. It is often the first room squeezed when space is tight — and the hardest to fix later.
AV infrastructure
Display walls need backing in the stud wall. Ceiling microphones and speakers need ceiling coordination. Tables may need floor boxes and conduit. All of this must be on the drawings your contractor prices.
Construction: coordinate, inspect, test
During construction, the technology team’s job is coordination: making sure cable pathways, firestopping, backing and power are installed as drawn, and that cabling goes in before ceilings close.
- Walk the site before ceilings and walls close to confirm drop locations and pathways.
- Install and terminate cabling; test every link and record the results.
- Install racks, switches, firewalls and access points; pre-staged configurations go in last.
- Install AV, then commission each room with real calls inside and outside your organisation.
Move weekend and day one
The move itself should be uneventful. With circuits live, the network tested and rooms commissioned, move weekend is about relocating equipment, connecting devices and confirming everything works. A technician on site for the first morning handles the inevitable printer that will not connect.
A simple timeline
| When | Technology task |
|---|---|
| Lease signed (6+ months) | Order primary and backup internet circuits; confirm riser and telecom-room access |
| Schematic design | Technology brief: headcount, room types, platforms, security |
| Design development | Drop schedule, Wi-Fi design, telecom-room layout, AV infrastructure drawings |
| Tender / pricing | Technology scope included in contractor pricing |
| Construction | Cabling before ceilings close; site walks; link testing |
| Final 4 weeks | Equipment install, configuration, room commissioning |
| Move weekend | Cut-over, device connection, testing; on-site support day one |
The short version
Order circuits first, brief your designer early, design Wi-Fi before cabling, and get every AV requirement on the contractor’s drawings. If one partner owns all of that, from circuit order to day one, the move becomes a non-event — which is exactly what it should be.