Office air conditioning
Quiet, efficient cooling and heating for offices, meeting rooms and co-working space. Free survey for mainland installations, and a fixed written quote.
- Free site survey and fixed written quote
- Unit sizes, refrigerant and price set out in writing
- Work planned around your opening hours
What is office air conditioning?
Office air conditioning is a cooling and heating system designed for the heat loads of an office: people, computers, lighting and sunshine through glazing. Most offices use ceiling cassettes or ducted units on a heat pump or VRF system, with zone controls so meeting rooms and open-plan areas can be set separately.
In the UK, guide prices run from about £2,150 to £4,950 per zone, plus VAT. A typical job (office of about 150 m² with 4–6 zones) usually comes to £8,950–£24,500 plus VAT.
Offices overheat for predictable reasons: more people and screens per square metre than the building was designed for, south- or west-facing glass, and meeting rooms that fill up for an hour and then sit empty. A good office system copes with all three without draughts, noise or arguments over the thermostat.
We design around how you actually use the space. Open-plan areas usually suit ceiling cassettes or ducted units with linear grilles; meeting rooms get their own controllable units; and the comms cupboard gets dedicated cooling so it does not depend on office hours.
Where it suits
- Open-plan offices
- Meeting and board rooms
- Co-working and serviced offices
- Professional practices
- Call centres and contact centres
- Office refurbishments and Cat A / Cat B fit-outs
What is included
- Heat load assessment per zone (occupancy, IT, lighting, solar gain)
- Zoned design so meeting rooms can be controlled separately
- Ceiling cassettes, ducted units or wall units to suit the ceiling
- Central or local controls, scheduling and set-point limits
- Coordination with your fit-out contractor, ceiling and lighting layout
- Commissioning, handover and F-gas records
How the work is carried out
Survey the floor
We look at the ceiling void, the grid layout, window orientation, occupancy and where the outdoor plant can go.
Zone the space
Open-plan, meeting rooms, reception and IT rooms are treated as separate zones with their own controls.
Coordinate the ceiling
Unit positions are set against the lighting and grid layout so cassettes and grilles sit neatly.
Install around the business
Work is phased by area or done out of hours so staff can keep working.
Commission and train
Controls are set with sensible limits and scheduling, and we show your facilities lead how to manage them.
Office AC prices
National guide prices for 2026. Local pages show prices adjusted for each region.
| Item | Guide price (ex VAT) | Inc VAT | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meeting room wall or cassette unit | £2,150–£4,450 | £2,580–£5,340 | per room |
| Open-plan cassette zone | £2,450–£4,950 | £2,940–£5,940 | per unit |
| Ducted zone with linear grilles | £3,950–£7,950 | £4,740–£9,540 | per zone |
| Central controller with scheduling | £395–£1,450 | £474–£1,740 | per system |
| Comms room cooling (single unit) | £1,950–£3,950 | £2,340–£4,740 | per room |
Ex VAT, supply and install with standard ceiling access.
Fit-out coordination, out-of-hours working and ceiling tile replacement are priced separately where needed.
Typical job: office of about 150 m² with 4–6 zones — £8,950–£24,500 plus VAT.
Things to plan for
Draughts and noise
Units are positioned so air does not blow directly onto desks, with quiet fan speeds selected for meeting rooms.
Fresh air
Air conditioning recirculates air; it does not provide fresh air on its own. Many offices need ventilation alongside it to meet the Building Regulations.
Out-of-hours use
If staff work late or weekends, zoning lets you run only the areas in use.
Leases and dilapidations
In a leased office, agree with the landlord who owns the system and what happens at the end of the lease.
Questions about office AC
What size air conditioning does an office need?
As a rough guide, offices need about 80–125 W of cooling per square metre, more with lots of glazing, dense occupancy or IT. A heat load survey gives the real figure for each zone.
Ceiling cassettes or wall units for an office?
Cassettes suit offices with a suspended ceiling and spread air evenly in four directions. Wall units are cheaper and suit small rooms or solid ceilings. Ducted units are the most discreet.
Can each meeting room have its own control?
Yes. We design meeting rooms as separate zones with their own controller, often with limits so set points stay sensible.
Will it disrupt the office?
We phase work by area or work early mornings, evenings or weekends. Most of the noisy work is done before units are hung.
Can it be linked to our building management system?
Most commercial systems can connect to a BMS through an interface. We confirm compatibility at design stage.
Does office air conditioning provide fresh air?
No — it heats and cools the air already in the room. Fresh air comes from ventilation, which we can design alongside the cooling.
Premises we fit this for
Office AC near you
Choose your county or region for local guide prices and the towns we cover.
England
- Bedfordshire
- Berkshire
- Bristol
- Buckinghamshire
- Cambridgeshire
- Cheshire
- Cornwall
- County Durham
- Cumbria
- Derbyshire
- Devon
- Dorset
- East Riding of Yorkshire
- East Sussex
- Essex
- Gloucestershire
- Greater Manchester
- Hampshire
- Herefordshire
- Hertfordshire
- Isle of Wight
- Kent
- Lancashire
- Leicestershire
- Lincolnshire
- London
- Merseyside
- Norfolk
- North Yorkshire
- Northamptonshire
- Northumberland
- Nottinghamshire
- Oxfordshire
- Rutland
- Shropshire
- Somerset
- South Yorkshire
- Staffordshire
- Suffolk
- Surrey
- Tyne and Wear
- Warwickshire
- West Midlands
- West Sussex
- West Yorkshire
- Wiltshire
- Worcestershire
Scotland
What happens next
Tell us what you need
Use the form, the quote tool, live chat or call us. A postcode and the type of premises is enough to start.
Survey or visit
For mainland installations we survey free of charge. Service and repair visits, and travel to remote locations, are priced before we book.
Written quote
You get the specification, the price and the programme in writing, including any landlord or planning points.
Work and handover
We install, service or repair around your hours, then hand over the commissioning and F-gas records.
Tell us about your premises
Send a few details and we will arrange a survey or call you back with a guide price.