---
title: Network, Wi-Fi, cameras and door access for a new office, from bare walls
description: "A complete technology fit-out for a business moving into a new suite: structured cabling, enterprise Wi-Fi, camera coverage and fob-based access control, designed together and installed before the furniture arrived."
url: "https://joshdargie.com/work/office-fit-out"
site: Josh Dargie
---

- **Scope:** Data drops, rack, switching, Wi-Fi, IP cameras, access control
- **Constraint:** One window between lease start and move-in
- **Outcome:** Operational on day one; documented for the next IT provider

## The brief

The business was moving into a suite that had been stripped back to drywall. They had a move date, a landlord who wanted cabling done before the ceiling closed, and a list of things they had lived without at the old office and did not want to live without again: Wi-Fi that reached the meeting rooms, a front door that did not depend on who had a key, cameras over reception and the server closet, and somewhere for the printer to plug in that was not a consumer router on the floor.

They had also had a bad experience with vendors who each owned one piece: the alarm company, the IT guy, the electrician and the cabling contractor had never been in the same room, and the result had been a network that nobody fully understood.

## The approach

One design for all of it, drawn before anything was ordered. I walked the empty suite with the floor plan, placed every desk, access point, camera and door reader on paper, and produced a single drop schedule the electrician and landlord could work from. Cabling went in while the walls were open: Cat6A to every desk position with spares, to each access-point location in the ceiling, to every camera position and to both controlled doors, all terminating in a wall-mount rack in a lockable closet.

The network was built around a managed PoE switch so that cameras, access points and door controllers are powered from the rack with no wall adapters anywhere. Staff, guest and device traffic are separated on their own VLANs. Access control uses fobs and a keypad at the main entry and the server closet, with schedules so the cleaners can get in after hours without a key that never comes back, and an audit log of every door event. Cameras cover reception, the corridor and the closet, recording locally.

## What they got

The office was live before the furniture arrived. On move-in day people sat down, connected, and worked; nobody ran a cable across a floor. Visitors get a guest network that cannot see the business. Lost fobs are deactivated in a minute rather than rekeying a door. The owner can check the cameras and the door log from their phone.

They also got what the previous office never had: a labelled rack, a network diagram, a drop schedule that matches the wall plates, and credentials in a vault they control. When they eventually bring in a managed IT provider, that provider will inherit a documented system rather than a mystery.

## Stack

- Cat6A structured cabling and patch panel
- Wall-mount rack with managed PoE switching
- Enterprise Wi-Fi with staff and guest networks
- PoE IP cameras recording locally
- Fob and keypad access control on entry and secure rooms