Tenants preparing a fitout submission often focus on the design, the floor plan, and the visual presentation. They spend weeks refining the layout, choosing finishes, and getting the space to look exactly how they want it. Then the submission goes to the landlord or building manager, and it comes back with questions, conditions, or outright rejection, not because the design is wrong, but because the submission did not address the things the landlord actually cares about.
Landlords and building managers review fitout submissions through a fundamentally different lens than tenants. Tenants see the space as their workplace. Landlords see it as their asset. The landlord’s review is driven by building protection, compliance, long-term maintainability, and the preservation of the building’s commercial and structural integrity. A submission that addresses the tenant’s operational needs but ignores the landlord’s asset protection concerns will face delays, additional conditions, or rejection regardless of how good the design is.
This article sets out what landlords and building managers actually assess when they review a fitout submission, where the common gaps are, and what tenants can do to get submissions approved faster.
Base Building Protection
The landlord’s first concern is whether the proposed fitout will damage or diminish the base building. This includes the structural slab, the columns, the external facade, the core services, and the common-area interfaces. Any fitout element that attaches to, penetrates, or modifies these base building components will attract close scrutiny.
Partition fixings to the slab are generally accepted because they are temporary and reversible. Fixings to structural columns, beams, or the external facade may require structural engineering assessment before they are approved. Penetrations through fire-rated slabs for services, stair openings, or vertical connections are almost always subject to landlord review and may require fire engineering certification. The submission must clearly identify any base building interface and demonstrate that the proposed fixing, penetration, or modification can be reversed at lease end without permanent damage.
Tenants who do not identify base building interfaces in their submission will have them identified by the building manager during the review, which adds a round of questions and delays the approval. A submission that proactively addresses base building protection demonstrates that the tenant and their fitout team understand the landlord’s concerns and have already accounted for them in the design.
Fire Compliance and Compartmentation
Fire compliance is typically the most technically scrutinised element of any fitout submission. Landlords and building managers are responsible for the fire safety of the entire building, and any tenant fitout that changes the fire compartmentation, the egress paths, or the performance of the fire services will be reviewed by the landlord’s fire engineer or building certifier.
The submission must show how the proposed partition layout interacts with the building’s fire compartmentation plan. New plasterboard walls that form fire compartment boundaries must be specified with the correct fire rating and junction details. Doors in fire-rated walls must be fire doors with compliant hardware and self-closing devices. Any modification to the fire sprinkler layout, the smoke detection system, or the fire egress paths must be documented and assessed against the building’s fire engineering report.
Partition design mistakes that affect fire compliance are one of the most common reasons submissions are returned for revision. The landlord’s fire engineer will check that the proposed fire compartments are consistent with the building’s overall fire strategy, and any inconsistency will need to be resolved before approval is granted.
Mechanical Services Impact
The building’s air-conditioning system is designed for a specific load profile, and any fitout that significantly changes the thermal load, the air distribution pattern, or the return air pathway will require mechanical services review. Landlords are particularly attentive to changes that could affect other tenancies, such as modifications to the main supply duct, changes to the building management system (BMS) zones, or work that affects the common-area air handling.
The submission should include a mechanical services scope that describes any proposed changes to the air-conditioning system, including new ductwork, relocated diffusers, supplementary cooling, and any connection to or modification of the base building mechanical plant. If the fitout creates enclosed rooms that were not part of the original air-conditioning design, the submission should demonstrate that adequate supply and return air has been provided for each room. Glass partitions that create sealed rooms are a common area of mechanical services concern because they change the air distribution pattern without always triggering a formal mechanical redesign.
In buildings with centralised BMS, the landlord may require that any mechanical modifications are integrated with the building’s control system. This may involve the landlord’s preferred mechanical contractor, which adds cost and coordination time to the project. Understanding this requirement early and including it in the submission prevents delays when the building manager flags it during their review.
Electrical Load and Distribution
The tenancy’s electrical supply is drawn from the building’s main switchboard, and the landlord needs to confirm that the proposed fitout’s electrical load does not exceed the supply allocated to the tenancy. Submissions that include significant electrical equipment, such as server rooms, large kitchen appliances, supplementary cooling units, or high-density workstation layouts, should include an electrical load calculation demonstrating that the tenancy supply is adequate.
If the proposed load exceeds the available supply, the landlord may need to arrange an upgrade to the tenancy’s electrical allocation, which involves work on the building’s main switchboard and may require an electrical engineer’s assessment. This is not a quick process, and discovering it mid-project rather than at the submission stage can delay the programme significantly.
The submission should also show the proposed electrical distribution within the tenancy, including the location of the distribution board, the circuit layout, and the cable routing. Landlords are particularly interested in how electrical work interfaces with fire-rated construction, because electrical penetrations through fire-rated walls and floors must be fire-stopped correctly to maintain the building’s fire compliance.
Make-Good Provisions and Reversibility
Landlords review every fitout submission with one eye on the make-good obligation. The lease will require the tenant to return the space to base building condition at the end of the tenancy, and the landlord wants to understand how the proposed fitout will be reversed, what the reinstatement scope will involve, and whether any elements of the fitout will be difficult or expensive to undo.
Submissions that propose extensive modifications to the base building, such as slab penetrations, permanent structural fixings, or significant changes to the fire and mechanical services, will attract more scrutiny because these modifications are harder and more expensive to reverse. The landlord may require a make-good schedule that itemises every tenant modification and describes the reinstatement method for each one.
Conversely, submissions that use demountable glass partition systems, minimise slab fixings, and avoid modifications to the base building services will generally receive faster approval because the landlord can see that the fitout is reversible without complex reinstatement work. This does not mean tenants should avoid permanent construction where it is needed, but it does mean the submission should clearly demonstrate awareness of the make-good implications and show that the design has been developed with reversibility in mind where practicable.
Building Standards and Finish Quality
Many commercial buildings, particularly A-grade and premium buildings, have building standards that specify minimum finish levels, preferred materials, and design guidelines for tenant fitouts. These standards exist to maintain the building’s commercial positioning and to ensure that individual tenant fitouts do not diminish the overall presentation of the building.
The submission should demonstrate compliance with the building standards where they apply. This may include the use of specific ceiling tile types to match the common areas, minimum partition heights, preferred glass framing colours, corridor lighting standards, and signage specifications. Tenants who are not aware of the building standards at the design stage may produce a submission that is technically compliant with the BCA but does not meet the building’s specific presentation requirements, which results in the submission being returned for revision.
Building managers often provide a copy of the building standards at the start of the lease, but tenants and their designers do not always read them in detail or incorporate them into the design. A pre-submission conversation with the building manager to confirm which standards apply and how they affect the proposed design can prevent a round of revisions that would otherwise add weeks to the approval process.
How to Get Submissions Approved Faster
The tenants who get submissions approved fastest are not the ones with the simplest fitouts. They are the ones who understand what the landlord is looking for and address it proactively in the submission documentation. This means including base building interface details, fire compartmentation drawings, mechanical services scopes, electrical load calculations, and make-good provisions in the initial submission rather than waiting for the building manager to request them.
It also means engaging the landlord or building manager early, before the submission is lodged. A preliminary meeting to discuss the proposed fitout scope, identify any building-specific requirements, and confirm the approval process and timeline saves weeks of back-and-forth after the formal submission is made. The building manager can flag issues that the tenant’s team may not be aware of, and the submission can be prepared to address those issues from the start.
If you are preparing a fitout submission and want to make sure it addresses everything the landlord will be looking for, we can help. We manage the landlord approval process as part of every complete fitout we deliver, and we prepare submissions that are designed to get approved the first time.