Spaces That Work as Hard as You Do
We understand that a commercial fit-out is an investment in your brand, your people and your performance. Benstead delivers spaces that balance aesthetic ambition with functional brilliance.
From the first workspace strategy consultation to final commissioning, our commercial team manages every workstream — design coordination, procurement, construction and handover — with programme certainty and quality control.
As a construction management company, we act as your single point of accountability — coordinating specialists, managing programmes and protecting your interests from first brief to final handover.
Discuss Your Project
What We Build
Corporate Offices
Modern, flexible workplace environments aligned with your organisation's culture and productivity goals.
Luxury Retail
Flagship retail fit-outs that showcase product and brand with architectural precision and material quality.
Hospitality & F&B
Hotels, restaurants and experiential venues crafted to create atmosphere and deliver operational excellence.
Medical & Wellness
Clinical environments and wellness facilities built to the highest standards of compliance and finish quality.
Showrooms
Automotive, real estate and luxury goods showrooms designed to present at the highest possible level.
Building Common Areas
Lobbies, receptions, amenity floors and common areas that set the tone for premium commercial buildings.
Selected Commercial Projects
Delivering Around a Live Building
Commercial fit-out in Dubai is rarely constrained by the works themselves. It is constrained by the building, the landlord and the date you have to open.
Landlord and building approvals
Most towers and business parks require design submission and approval before any work starts, plus method statements, insurance certificates, and contractor and labour passes for every operative. Base-build interfaces — sprinkler drops, fire alarm devices, AC branches, BMS points — usually have to be approved separately by the building's own consultant.
Programmes slip here far more often than they slip on site. We start the approvals process in parallel with design rather than after it.
Cat A and Cat B
Category A delivers the base finished shell: raised floors, suspended ceilings, primary mechanical and electrical distribution, and basic finishes. Category B is your fit-out on top of it — partitions, joinery, meeting rooms, branding, furniture and IT.
Knowing precisely where the demise between the two sits matters commercially, because it determines what the landlord contributes and what you pay for. We help establish that boundary before a lease is signed where we are engaged early enough.
Working hours and access
Occupied buildings restrict noisy works to evenings and weekends, limit lift and loading bay access, and impose strict waste removal routes. These constraints are programme drivers, not details. They are priced into our preliminaries at the outset rather than discovered in week three.
Commercial Fit-Out Approvals
A commercial fit-out usually needs three permissions rather than one. The landlord or building management consents to the works and sets access, working hours and the fit-out deposit. The authority issues the fit-out permit — Dubai Municipality, Trakhees, DDA, DIFC, DMCC or DSOA depending on where the premises sit.
A DDA fit-out permit is worth singling out, because it requires NOCs from the main contractor, the main consultant and the plot owner — three separate parties, and in an older building that collection frequently takes longer than the assessment.
Then there is the regulatory overlay specific to the use. A clinic answers to DHA, a food and beverage unit to Dubai Municipality food control, a salon to its own licensing route. Those approvals shape the programme as much as the construction does, and they are started in parallel rather than after fit-out approval is granted.
| Stage | Duration |
|---|---|
| Survey, design and measured bill of quantities | 2 – 4 weeks |
| Landlord consent and authority fit-out permit | 3 – 6 weeks |
| Use-specific approvals, in parallel | 3 – 8 weeks |
| Strip-out, partitions, MEP first fix | 3 – 6 weeks |
| Finishes, joinery, second fix | 4 – 8 weeks |
| Commissioning, inspection and handover | 1 – 2 weeks |
Where Commercial Projects Actually Slip
Rarely the construction. The recurring causes are the landlord's consent arriving late, the use-specific regulatory approval being started after the fit-out permit rather than alongside it, and long-lead items — specialist equipment, bespoke joinery, imported finishes — ordered once the site is ready rather than at the outset.
Working hours are the other constraint. In an occupied building, fit-out hours are set around existing tenants, which compresses the available day and sometimes pushes noisy work to nights — a separate permit in DDA districts.
A commercial programme that accounts for those four things is usually achievable. One that treats approvals as administration is not, and the cost of overrunning a fit-out is rent on premises you cannot yet trade from.
Commercial Fit-Out FAQs
What is the difference between Cat A and Cat B fit-out?
Category A is the base finished shell, usually delivered by the landlord: raised floors, suspended ceilings, primary MEP distribution and basic finishes.
Category B is your fit-out on top of it — partitions, joinery, meeting rooms, branding, furniture and IT. Knowing exactly where the demise sits between the two determines what the landlord contributes and what you pay for.
How long does a commercial fit-out take in Dubai?
A straightforward Cat B office fit-out typically takes eight to sixteen weeks on site depending on area and specification, plus four to eight weeks beforehand for design, landlord approval and procurement.
Approvals and long-lead furniture are almost always the binding constraint rather than the construction itself.
Can you work while our office stays occupied?
Yes, with phasing. We programme the works in zones, decant staff area by area, and carry out noisy or disruptive activities outside core working hours.
It extends the overall programme and adds to preliminaries, but it is usually far cheaper than temporary premises. We will model both options so you can compare properly.
Do you handle landlord approvals and building permits?
Yes. We prepare and submit design drawings and method statements to building management and their consultant, arrange contractor and labour passes, provide insurance documentation and manage authority submissions where required.
This runs in parallel with design rather than after it, because approvals are where commercial programmes most often slip.
What approvals does a commercial fit-out need?
Three, usually: landlord or building management consent, the authority fit-out permit, and any regulatory approval specific to the use — DHA for a clinic, Dubai Municipality food control for an F&B unit, and so on. Which authority issues the permit depends on where the premises sit, and it is frequently not Dubai Municipality.
Why do commercial fit-outs overrun?
Approvals and long-lead items, far more often than construction. Landlord consent arriving late, use-specific regulatory approval started after the fit-out permit rather than alongside it, and specialist equipment ordered once the site is ready. All three are avoidable by starting them in parallel at the outset.
Can you work outside normal hours?
In many buildings it is necessary, because fit-out hours are set around existing tenants. In DDA districts a night shift work permit is a separate application rather than a variation to the fit-out permit, so it has to be anticipated rather than requested once the programme is under pressure.
How is a commercial project priced?
The same way as a residential one — from a measured bill of quantities after a survey, with every element listed, quantified and rated. On a commercial project that matters more rather than less, because the variation account on a fit-out with a fixed opening date is where disputes concentrate.
Sectors & Locations
What we fit out
Corporate offices and headquarters, professional services suites, flagship and in-line retail, showrooms, restaurants and cafés, clinics and medical suites, salons and spas, gyms and studios, and hospitality front-of-house. Each carries its own regulatory overlay — a clinic answers to DHA, an F&B unit to Dubai Municipality food control, a salon to its own licensing route — and those approvals shape the programme as much as the construction does.
Where we work
- DIFC
- Business Bay
- Downtown Dubai
- Sheikh Zayed Road
- JLT
- DMCC
- Dubai Media City
- Dubai Internet City
- Barsha Heights
- Dubai Design District
- Dubai Silicon Oasis
- Dubai Marina
- Deira
- Bur Dubai
- Dubai Healthcare City
- Expo City