What CAT A usually includes
CAT A is the landlord's product: raised floor, suspended ceiling, general and emergency lighting, primary services distribution and, normally, finished common areas and WCs. It is designed to let a floor, not to suit an occupier.
What CAT B adds
CAT B is everything that makes the space usable by one specific business: layout, partitions, meeting rooms, joinery, branding, furniture, AV, and the services modification needed to serve the actual density.
Where the boundary goes wrong
Two things cause most disputes. The first is a CAT A that is stripped out on day one of CAT B, which is money spent twice. The second is a services capacity assumption made at CAT A that does not support the occupier's density.
- Ceiling and lighting removed immediately by the incoming tenant
- Cooling capacity stated per square metre rather than per person
- Fire detection layouts that assume an open plan
- Reinstatement obligations that reverse the CAT B at lease end
Settle these before heads of terms
- The precise CAT A specification, in writing
- Cooling, fresh air and power capacity per floor
- Whether a CAT A contribution can be applied to CAT B
- Reinstatement obligations at lease expiry
- Landlord approval durations for alterations
