Key points
- Turn-key describes the physical fit-out of an office — not its digital provisions.
- Two turn-key offices can differ sharply in connectivity, cabling and redundancy.
- The IT-Label makes that difference visible, so move-in ready says something about the digital layer too.
- Which level is needed depends on the user: not every office runs on real-time data.
- The classification describes what is there; the tenant decides whether that fits.
What turn-key does and does not say
Turn-key offices are popular. Fully fitted out, immediately available, no construction work. For companies that want to scale quickly or operate flexibly, that is an attractive proposition.
But turn-key is a term about fit-out: flooring, partitions, pantry, climate installation, workstations. About what sits behind the wall — the fibre connection, the cabling, the redundancy of the link — the term says nothing. Two offices both called turn-key can be far apart on that point.
Why that difference is noticeable
For an organisation working with cloud platforms, video meetings, real-time data analysis and integrated security systems, that digital layer is not a detail. Those applications call for bandwidth, low latency, stable connections and internal network quality.
An office can then look move-in ready and not be it in practice: the furniture is there, but the connection the operation runs on has no second route. That is not a fault of the building — it is an expectation nobody tested.
What the IT-Label adds to turn-key
The IT-Label describes that invisible layer on four points. External connectivity: how many connections there are, what capacity is guaranteed and whether there is a second route in the event of a failure. Internal infrastructure: the type of cabling, the layout of the patch cabinets and the room for expansion. Smart readiness: whether the office connects to building management systems and IoT applications. And security: network segmentation, secured technical rooms and preparation for compliance requirements.
That turns move-in ready into a statement about the digital layer as well, instead of only about the fit-out.
The difference between two turn-key offices is rarely in the furniture. It is in the layer you do not see during a viewing.
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Not every organisation needs redundant fibre. An eight-person consultancy has different requirements than a trading platform where ten minutes of downtime costs money. For the first, an IT3 READY is often ample; for the second, even IT1 can be tight.
The IT-Label does not prescribe which level you should want. It makes visible which level an office offers, so you can make that judgement yourself — before signing rather than after.
Move-in ready, fully defined
Turn-key and the IT-Label describe two different things: one the fit-out, the other the digital provisions. Together they give a complete picture of what an office delivers.
For the landlord, that is a way to show what has actually been delivered. For the tenant, it is the ability to test whether move-in ready also applies to the systems their business runs on. More on office buildings and the IT-Label.
