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Office Fit-Out and Construction: Difference of Handover Conditions - Warm Shell and Bare Shell

Updated: May 24, 2022

One of the essential key variables that affects the level of productivity and comfortability of the employees is the physical working environment and spaces. It is one of the vital factors that you must consider in starting your business operations as providing a good working environment makes your workers do their job efficiently and effectively. Afterall, your workplace is considered as your people’s second home so you must make it a space that is highly habitable.


To build your office space, you must understand the standard handover conditions that are available in the Philippine office market -- Bare Shell and Warm Shell. In this article, to help us define the two is our CRE broker Kim Camarse, who has been in practice for 8 years in the Philippines.


Warm Shell vs. Bare Shell


According to Ms. Camarse, to describe a typical warm-shell handover in the Philippines is to see a cold shell of open space with a fully functional ceiling, smooth flooring that is ready to receive carpet tiles, and white painted walls.

Warm Shell Property



In contrast is a bare-shell which is also a shell of open space but with an open ceiling, rough flooring, and unpainted walls. There may be some mechanicals in place such as AC units, lighting fixtures, but it may be as minimal as possible which is only fire protection.

Bare Shell Property



Summary Comparison of Bare Shell and Warm Shell

​Bare Shell

Warm Shell

Can be with/without AC

Has AC units in place

No functional ceiling in place but includes fire protection as its a mandate by LGUs

Functional ceilings with acoustic boards, t-runners, lighting, fresh air supply

Rough cement flooring

Smooth cement/Ready to receive carpet tiles

Unpainted walls

White-painted walls

No plumbing in place

Finished plumbing

Advantages


Bare Shell and Warm Shell Properties both have their advantages and disadvantages, it just depends on the needs of the occupier.


For Warm Shell, occupiers need less fit-out cost if their design does not require them to touch the ceiling anymore by simply starting on the partitioning of the space.


Bare Shell on the other hand, will work better if the design needs to be implemented from scratch such as laying out the electrical wiring on the ceiling or dropping IT infrastructure from the ceiling.


Both can be less expensive depending on their design implementation. It may seem that the Warm Shell condition looks more complete on first impression, it is not necessarily so as it may end up being more costly if your design will require you to remove and reinstall some mechanicals in place.


In conclusion, prior to getting an office space, deciding which handover condition is most suitable to your design should be done during your early discussion and planning. In Office Pro Philippines, we try to mitigate this by forming a team for lease acquisition and for construction. So that hand in hand, we can advise clients properly in understanding their overall needs for their workplace.


Consult your office design with us by sending an e-mail to inquiry@officepro.ph


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Office Pro Philippines is a Corporate Real Estate Consultancy and Service Solutions firm that is focused on the OFFICE SPACE.


We are the only OFFICE SPACE-FOCUSED real estate in the Philippines with more than 10 years of practice from our consultants.


Our core services include office consultancy, office lease acquisition, office construction management, and office facilities management.


To know more of our services, you can send us an inquiry through the button below.


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