An approaching lease event can make a workplace decision feel urgent. The office no longer quite fits. One team wants more collaboration space, another needs somewhere quiet to work, and the finance team needs a credible cost comparison. A new building looks exciting. Refurbishing the current one might be less disruptive. Which route actually makes sense?
The short answer:
Refurbish when the existing building can support the organisation’s future needs at an acceptable whole-project cost and level of disruption.
Relocate when location, capacity or building constraints prevent it from doing so.
Most organisations need to test both options against the same workplace brief before deciding.
A practical first step
Habit Action’s Office Fit-Out Planning Readiness Assessment can help you identify which parts of the brief are already clear and which need more work before you commit to a refurbishment or a move. Use it to start a focused conversation with your leadership, property and workplace teams.
Start with the problem the business needs to solve
It is easy to frame the choice as old building versus new building. But an office move is a means to an end.
Begin with the outcomes: enough space at busy times, a better experience for employees and clients, room to grow, the right technology, and a location people can reach.
Talk to leadership, property or facilities, HR, IT, finance and the people who use the workplace. Establish why the current office is falling short. Is it genuinely too small, or does it have too many desks and too few meeting rooms? Is the building in the wrong location, or have teams simply changed the way they use it?
If the organisation has not agreed what the workplace needs to achieve, it cannot yet compare staying and moving fairly.
Test the existing office before ruling it out
Look at actual attendance across the week, not just an average. A half-empty Friday does not help if all the meeting rooms are full on Tuesday. Record peak occupancy, desk use, room bookings and the activities people struggle to accommodate.
Then assess the building itself. Could the floorplate support a better mix of space? Can power, data, ventilation and access arrangements be adapted? Are there restrictions in the lease or from the landlord? Can the business remain operational while works take place, perhaps by using phases or temporary space?
This is the point at which a test fit and technical review become useful. If the existing office can meet the brief with sensible changes, refurbishment deserves a place on the shortlist. If its structure, capacity or location cannot meet essential needs, a more attractive interior will not solve the underlying problem.
Put a proposed new building through the same test
A new office can offer different capacity, a better location or a layout that fits the organisation more naturally. It can also bring costs and commitments that are easy to overlook when a building first makes a good impression.
Test a prospective property against the same brief you used for the current one. Consider usable space and floorplate, access for employees and visitors, building services, landlord obligations, any required Cat A and Cat B work, the fit-out programme and the time needed for a move. If specialist operations or secure areas are involved, assess those requirements before committing to the property.
Ask how the space will work when the business grows or changes. An impressive reception is of little use if the technical infrastructure or lease arrangements make expansion difficult.
Compare the full cost and the operational impact
Do not compare the price of a refurbishment with the rent of a new office and call it a decision. Each route has several cost and timing elements.
Staying may involve refurbishment, temporary workspace, phased construction, landlord approvals, service upgrades and the cost of disruption.
Moving may involve rent and lease terms, surveys, fit-out, furniture, IT migration, dilapidations, the physical move and a period of overlap between premises.
Both routes need allowances for professional input, contingencies and the effect of the programme on the business.
Bring finance and property advisers into the comparison, and ask the project team to test realistic scenarios rather than one optimistic estimate. Consider the value of the outcome as well as the initial spend. A cheaper option that leaves the business short of meeting space or unable to grow can become expensive later.
Think about the people who will make it work
Location matters to recruitment, commuting, clients and the relationships between teams. So does the experience inside the office. If a move lengthens journeys for a significant part of the workforce, that should be visible in the decision, not discovered after the lease is signed.
Equally, staying does not mean accepting the current way of working. A refurbishment can be a chance to make the space easier to use and reconnect teams. Either route needs a change and communication plan: what will happen, when, where people will work during the transition and who will respond when something changes.
How Habit Action would approach the decision
We would start with the organisation: its objectives, people, ways of working and operational requirements. We would then compare what the existing building can support with what a shortlisted new property could deliver. Test fits, technical reviews, programme planning and a clear brief help turn an instinctive stay-or-go debate into a decision supported by evidence.
Our Atlas Copco Group project shows how important the full brief can be. Its new 55,000 sq ft headquarters needed to bring five divisions together and accommodate production, warehouse and workshop facilities as well as offices. The building was assessed against those combined needs and transformed to support them. It is an example of testing property and workplace requirements together; it does not mean that moving will be right for every organisation.
Should you stay or go?
Stay if the existing building can meet your agreed requirements, adapt to likely change and be transformed within an acceptable cost and delivery plan. Go if essential needs such as location, capacity, infrastructure or long-term flexibility cannot realistically be met there.
If the answer is unclear, do not force an early decision. Write the workplace brief, test the current space, test the alternative and compare like with like. The right choice is the one that gives the organisation a workplace that can do the job ahead of it.
A practical first step
Habit Action’s Office Fit-Out Planning Readiness Assessment can help you identify which parts of the brief are already clear and which need more work before you commit to a refurbishment or a move. Use it to start a focused conversation with your leadership, property and workplace teams.
Key takeaways
Define what the business needs from its workplace before choosing a property outcome.
Assess peak occupancy, activities and space mix alongside total floor area.
Test the existing building and new options against the same brief.
Compare full costs, timing, disruption and long-term adaptability.
Include employees, technical specialists, finance and property advisers in the decision.
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to refurbish or relocate an office?
There is no universal answer. Refurbishment may retain a suitable location and avoid some moving costs, but significant infrastructure work or phasing can change the calculation. Relocation adds property, fit-out and moving costs, but may solve constraints the existing building cannot. Compare the full costs and business impact for both options over a consistent period.
What should a company check before deciding to stay?
Check whether the existing building can support future headcount, the right mix of work settings, technical infrastructure, accessibility and any specialist requirements. Review the lease, landlord permissions, likely refurbishment scope and whether the business can continue operating during the works.
When is relocating the better option?
Relocation becomes more compelling when essential needs cannot be met in the present building: for example, an unsuitable location, insufficient capacity, fixed physical constraints or services that cannot be upgraded economically. The decision should follow a property and workplace assessment rather than assume that a move is automatically an improvement.
Can an office remain open during refurbishment?
Often it can, depending on the scope and building. Phased work, temporary workspace, controlled access and planned service shutdowns can help protect operations. The practical delivery plan and any safety constraints need assessing for the specific building before the business commits to staying.
A practical first step
Habit Action’s Office Fit-Out Planning Readiness Assessment can help you identify which parts of the brief are already clear and which need more work before you commit to a refurbishment or a move. Use it to start a focused conversation with your leadership, property and workplace teams.
