An electrician wired a small office fit-out with standard 13A sockets throughout, on the reasonable assumption that a socket is a socket. Within a fortnight the client was back on the phone: no wired network points anywhere, and a desk-per-person layout that needed four times the double sockets actually fitted.

Socket Density: Plan for the Desk Layout, Not the Room

A domestic living room might get away with one double socket per wall. An office desk today typically needs power for a monitor, a laptop or desktop, a phone charger, and increasingly a docking station, before anyone's brought in a desk lamp or a second monitor. Speccing at domestic density on an office job means the client ends up running extension leads across the floor within weeks, which is exactly the outcome a proper first-fix spec should avoid.

A reasonable starting point for open-plan desking is two double sockets per single desk position, more where docking stations or dual-monitor setups are specified. For reception, meeting rooms and communal areas, plan around actual equipment (screens, coffee machines, printers) rather than a flat per-square-metre rule.

Data Outlets: Spec Them Even When the Client Doesn't Ask

Wi-Fi coverage in an office with metal partitions, plasterboard and a dozen other networks nearby is rarely as reliable as a client expects, and video calls in particular expose the gap fast. An RJ45 Cat6 data outlet at each desk position, run back to a comms cabinet, is cheap to install at first fix and expensive to retrofit once walls are finished and floors are down.

Telephone and data cabling itself runs at extra-low voltage and sits outside Building Regulations Part P's notifiable work requirements, but where it's run alongside new mains circuits in the same job, the mains side still needs to be assessed and certified in the normal way. The two scopes are assessed separately, not exempted from each other. Our RJ11 vs RJ45 guide covers the connector choice itself in more detail.

Finish and USB Charging: Where Office Specs Diverge From Domestic

Domestic jobs are usually specced around what the homeowner personally likes. Office fit-outs are usually specced to match a fit-out contractor's material palette or a corporate style guide, and polished chrome remains the most common commercial default because it reads as neutral and professional across most interior schemes. BG Evolve's matt finishes (grey, black, blue) are increasingly used where a fit-out wants a more contemporary look than traditional chrome.

USB charging built into a share of sockets, rather than every socket, is a reasonable middle ground: it covers most personal device charging without adding cost across sockets mainly used for monitors and docking stations that don't need it.