RETROFIT & SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS


The retrofit blind spot: why workplace amenities deserve a place in planning


Elyas Coutts, chief executive at Connect Vending, explains why refreshment areas should be treated as operational infrastructure from RIBA Stage 2 rather than resolved at fit-out


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n recent years, there has been an influx of retrofit projects being driven by sustainability targets, ageing building stock and changing workplace expectations. Around 80% of the buildings that will exist


in 2050 are already standing, and the built environment accounts for roughly a quarter of UK carbon emissions, so upgrading what we already have is now the priority. Deloitte’s latest London Office Crane Survey found refurbishment made up two thirds of new office starts in 2025, and it has overtaken new development throughout the post-pandemic period. Retrofit discussions usually centre on major engineering systems: heat pumps, LED lighting and controls and ventilation, because these decisions often determine whether a building hits its EPC and energy targets. Yet some of the busiest spaces in a building receive comparatively little strategic attention. On a typical mid-week morning, the most heavily used equipment in a workplace is often the office coffee machine, along with the water dispensers, vending machines and catering points that occupants use several times a day.


Why amenities become an afterthought


Refreshment areas are usually planned quite late in the project, once major building decisions have already been made. They tend to be classed as fit-out, or left to the occupier entirely, so they are addressed after riser routes, plant locations and floor plates have been fixed, by which point the decisions that most affect them have been taken without them in mind. Commercial coffee machines and vending machines need access to dedicated outlets, and older buildings often have little spare electrical capacity where this equipment ends up. Mains-fed coffee machines and water dispensers need a potable supply, WRAS- compliant connections and, ideally, nearby drainage. Where the pipework does not reach, the fallback is a tank-fed coffee machine which, depending on use, needs to be regularly refilled, which quickly becomes a maintenance burden. Catering areas need extraction fans, hot water and waste provision that is difficult to add retrospectively. Maintenance access gets squeezed as floor plans are optimised for desks and meeting rooms. Meeting Approved Document M and BS 8300-2 on approach


space, counter heights and control positions become far harder when the location is dictated by leftover space and because refreshment equipment is treated as furniture rather than infrastructure, its ability to adapt to changing occupancy is rarely considered.


The operational impact


These outcomes make a building harder to operate, which is exactly what a retrofit is meant to resolve. The same patterns appear across workplace


environments of every size and sector, and each affect how the building performs. Coffee machines end up where maintenance is difficult, installed against a wall or in a tight nook, so a routine filter change means dismantling joinery. Water dispensers are positioned for plumbing convenience rather than occupant circulation, generating unnecessary foot traffic through quiet working zones. Temporary power arrangements have become permanent, so the extension leads, and surface trunking installed to get vending machines running are still there years later. Refreshment points create congestion where a single machine serves a full floor, with queues forming at break times on circulation routes. With the increase in hybrid working, Remit Consulting’s Return data shows average UK office attendance has settled above 40%, concentrated heavily from Tuesday to Thursday, with mid-week peaks around 45% and much lower figures either side. Buildings are no longer loaded evenly across the week, and refreshment points register that variability more visibly than almost any other service. A retrofit that fixes services around one static occupancy assumption embeds that constraint for the life of the fit-out.


Integrating amenities into retrofit planning


The remedy is straightforward, but it means treating refreshment and catering provision as operational infrastructure from RIBA Stage 2 rather than resolving it at fit-out.


8 BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER SEPTEMBER 2026


Start with demand. Access control data, utilisation studies and occupant surveys can establish peak-day demand for coffee, water and vending, and where natural circulation routes lie. The British Council for Offices has argued that post-pandemic workplaces must compete with homes on experience, and its current Guide to Fit Out advises that offices should offer amenities exceeding what people have available domestically. Demand is measurable, and it should be measured before the service’s design is frozen. From there it is conventional building services


coordination. Allocate electrical capacity and dedicated circuits where machines will be placed. Route water and drainage access to intended positions rather than convenient ones. Design the space with clear access zones so filter changes, descaling and restocking do not cause disruptions to business. Position coffee points and hydration stations on natural circulation paths so they support movement through the building. Finally, allow capacity for change: spare modes on the distribution board, capped water connections and demountable joinery cost little during a retrofit and considerably more afterwards, when an occupier wants to add equipment or convert a vending bay into an unattended retail unit.


Measuring retrofit success differently


A retrofit that achieves its energy targets but leaves occupants queuing for coffee or has the FM team dismantling cabinetry to service a water dispenser, has only partially succeeded. Energy performance and compliance are necessary measures of success, but they are not sufficient ones.


The buildings that perform best in operation


are those where the everyday equipment, the provision occupants use most, was planned with the same rigour as the plant room. Bringing coffee, hydration, vending and catering into the design conversation alongside HVAC, lighting and controls is among the cheapest improvements available to a retrofit team.


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