Cost Certainty Report
Why Capital Projects Lose Cost Certainty in a Stable Market
London fit-out and refurbishment projects are becoming more technical and less forgiving of poor decisions, and contractors are becoming more selective. Learn how to improve cost certainty through better briefing, procurement and risk management.
The Challenge
Headline inflation forecasts may appear relatively stable, but projects rarely experience risk as a neat annual average. Cost overruns are often driven by design uncertainty, procurement choices, MEP constraints, landlord interfaces and late decision-making rather than market inflation alone.
This report explores how occupiers, landlords, developers and project teams can identify these risks earlier and make better commercial decisions before certainty is lost.
What You’ll Learn
1. Why there is no single London office market
Understand how the “flight to quality” is reshaping demand and creating very different risks for occupiers, landlords and developers.
2. Why stable inflation forecasts can be misleading
Learn why projects experience risk through specific trades, procurement routes and programme pressures rather than market averages.
3. How procurement decisions affect cost certainty
Discover when single-stage tendering works, when two-stage procurement adds value and how procurement strategy should reflect project risk.
4. Where cost overruns really begin
Explore why the biggest risks are often hidden in gaps between briefs, designs, technical information and stakeholder expectations.
5. A practical playbook for improving certainty
Learn seven practical actions that can help improve project outcomes through better briefing, risk quantification, procurement and change control.
Who Should Read This?
- Corporate Real Estate Directors
- Heads of Workplace
- Estates Directors
- Capital Programme Directors
- Project Managers
- Asset Managers
- Developers
- Landlords undertaking refurbishment or repositioning projects
About the Authors
Colin Wood – Partner, EthosEQ
Colin advises occupiers, landlords and project teams on cost certainty, procurement strategy and commercial decision-making across workplace, fit-out and refurbishment projects throughout EMEA
Damien Clifford – Partner, EthosEQ
Damien specialises in helping clients navigate project risk, stakeholder alignment and commercial delivery challenges to achieve better project outcomes.
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