Organising office reinstatement -

Who to include?

The purpose of reinstating your office is to have your full deposit returned to you and the landlord can then lease out the space to another tenant. In order to successfully do this involves working with multiply stakeholders to ensure you meet your contractual obligations while at the same time complying with building management regulations. One thing to note is that building management may not always be your landlord. Your landlord may have certain requirements that need to be met while building management have another set of requirements. It is important to understand these prerequisites by finding an experienced office reinstatement contractor who recognises these essential details, can communicate on your behalf with involved parties and work with selected nominated contractors and sub-contractors to complete the project successfully.

Main contractor / Builder

The main contractors are the contractors that you (the tenant) engage with to complete the office reinstatement project. The appointed main contractor / builder communicate with the landlord and building management, co-ordinate with nominated contractors and BMO. They are the project managers that organise different parties to complete the office reinstatement project. As a main contractor its important to build a relationship with the client to understand their needs and to reach expectations.

Main contractors perform the below works which relies heavily on coordination with building management and nominated contractors. For example, main contractor needs to complete the ceiling work before nominated contractors can start air conditioning work, which all need to meet fit out requirements set by building management. ie. One cannot be completed without the other.

• Ceiling work
• Window work
• Wall & Partitions
• Electrical
• Pump & Drainage

An experienced main contractor in office reinstatement understands the importance of synchronization to organise a successful project.

The landlords for commercial buildings are usually private corporations, investment funds, incorporated owners and government bodies. Their key focus is to lease the premises and when they take the space back, they are looking for the ability of this premises to be leased out in the shortest period of time. To be able to be leased out, the space must be reinstated to its original condition unless the next tenant agrees to take the premises “as is”. In which case, reinstating is not necessary.

Building management

Building management are in charge of hard services usually related to physical and structural components in the building such as fire alarm systems, escalators and lifts. They also provide soft services including cleaning, landscaping, security, maintenance and repairs works to all plant and machinery, service desk technical management and emergency back-up services. When reinstating an office, the main contractor must meet building management standards and regulations. Building management work with the landlord to draft these reinstatement requirements. Building management select the nominated contractors and states the requirements each nominated contractor and main contractor must meet. All main contractors must submit required documents to building management before commencement of the office reinstatement project.

A nominated contractor is one that is appointed / recommended by the landlord or building management to carry out a component of the work. This work usually involves the below

• Mechanical Ventilation Air Conditioner (MVAC)
• Pump and drainage
• Fire services
• Main power
• Public area work (Occasionally)

Its crucial main contractors communicate with nominated contractors to understand their scope of works and costs involved. Set timelines and expectations to meet the tenant’s needs. There are usually multiply nominated contractors although there is only 1 main contractor. Each nominated contractor is specific to 1 aspect of the project hence they each have a small but crucial role to play.