The Zero TI Secret: From Vision to Valuation, Design Principles for an Agile Retrofit
By Robert Kroon
Executive Summary
ZERO TENANT IMPROVEMENTS, a practical plan for maximizing the NOI from your building.
In today's commercial real estate (CRE) market, where retrofitting buildings is the primary driver of modernization, the traditional Tenant Improvement (TI) model has become a financial liability. The cost, time, and waste associated with fixed construction actively diminish a building’s value every time a tenant moves or reconfigures.
The Zero TI Retrofit is a critical strategy that transforms a static building into a perpetually Agile Workplace platform. By intelligently deploying innovative technologies such as fault-managed power (FMP) and battery-powered Agile Furniture, this framework permanently eliminates future tenant-specific construction. This approach guarantees a more profitable, valuable, and tenant-friendly asset by prioritizing flexibility, technological integration, and a dramatic reduction in operational friction.
This blog post outlines the core design principles for achieving a true Zero TI Retrofit, following a practical, construction-sequence timeline.
The ZERO TI building shell has clean, open floorplates ready for any layout configuration. Cable pathways, zoned HVAC, acoustical baffles, and motorized shades are part of the shell. Agile Furniture, FMP power distribution, and mobile planters reconfigure according to tenant needs. When the space is imagined correctly, reconfiguration or changes in tenants can occur in hours or days, not months.
Phase I: The Agile Shell—The Foundation of Flexibility
This phase defines the permanent, reconfigurable physical envelope of the space. Design choices here are focused on eliminating fixed architectural elements that create the most cost and waste during tenant churn.
Embrace Modular & Demountable Wall Systems: Specify the exclusive use of high-quality, demountable, and reconfigurable wall partitions for all private offices and static conference rooms. This eliminates traditional drywall, shifting the expense from capital-intensive construction (TI) to a rapidly deployable asset. In your supplier selection process, use “time for reconfiguration” as a strong influence on your purchasing decision.
Open and Exposed Ceilings: Open and expose the ceilings to raise the perceived openness of the space. Do not use ceiling tiles, especially in a building with low ceilings, as this maximizes volume and minimizes future demolition.
Agile Acoustic Management: To effectively absorb sound in open areas without obstructing the exposed ceiling, utilize ceiling-hung PET baffles. These non-fixed elements are easily repositioned to tune the acoustics of different zones, directly supporting the functional success of the Agile Workplace design.
High-Quality, Maintainable Flooring: Design floors in the space with polished concrete or hardwood, whichever is native to the building. Do not install carpeted areas as that creates fixed, non-agile spaces. Area rugs are acceptable as they can be moved and customized in an Agile Workplace.
Solar Gain Management: Install motorized shades to deal with solar gain, or another high-efficiency technique. Integrating these with the building control system enhances energy performance and occupant comfort.
Phase II: The Intelligent Infrastructure—The Engine of Efficiency
This phase focuses on deploying the smart, low-voltage systems that make the building platform perpetually reconfigurable, eliminating the need for expensive electrical and data work.
A. Power and Data Agility
August Berres C-Power batteries are the endpoint in the power delivery system.
Eliminate All Fixed Floor Power and Data Outlets: All fixed utility services must be routed through the ceiling or along the building perimeter. This ensures the floor remains perpetually open for any layout change, eliminating the labor and cost associated with core drilling.
Agile Power Delivery:
Battery-Powered Furniture: Use battery-powered office fixtures and furniture for desk areas, lounge areas, and collaboration pods. Products like Respond!, CampFire desks, and Juce mobile monitor stands provide the ultimate mobility required for an Agile Workplace.
FMP Backbone: Use FMP for all fixed applications that require more than typically 200W. Examples include PoE hubs, kitchen equipment, large monitors (greater than 65"), large printers, or copiers.
Unified Network Routing:
IT network cables and FMP cables should be placed in the same routing system, ideally using a standardized grid pattern for maximum coverage and simplified servicing.
Co-locate FMP transmitters and network infrastructure in the same room to streamline maintenance and power distribution.
B. Smart Systems and Environmental Control
To achieve true operational efficiency, building systems must be fully integrated and data-driven.
Integrated Low-Voltage Lighting: Install lighting that uses PoE technology, making every fixture IP addressable for fine-grain control.
HVAC and Lighting Synchronization: Zones for HVAC and Lighting should be the same to simplify automation and ensure a consistent, comfortable environment following any floor plate reconfiguration.
Control Room and AI-Enabled Sensing: Create a Control Room that centralizes security systems and AI-enabled IoT sensors and controls. The strategy must include:
Core Control Sensors: Temperature by zone, CO2 levels in conference rooms and pods, and Occupancy sensing (essential for energy savings).
IEQ and Energy Sensors: Relative Humidity and TVOC Sensors to monitor air quality; Light-Level and Daylight Harvesting Sensors to reduce electricity consumption.
Granular Power Sensors: Place current sensors at FMP distribution points and battery charging units. This provides real-time data for audits, fault identification, and potential consumption-based chargebacks, securing the long-term financial performance of the asset.
Acoustic/Noise-Level Sensors: Continuously monitor ambient noise ($\text{dBA}$) in open areas to provide data-driven feedback and support productivity.
Phase III: The Tenant-Friendly Platform & Financial Future-Proofing
The final principles ensure the space maximizes tenant appeal and guarantees that the building’s core systems can handle future growth without costly overhauls, cementing the asset's long-term profitability.
Your facilities team should standardize both your retrofitting practices and the suppliers, products, and service providers to maximize the agility of your portfolio.
Establish Portfolio-Wide Design Standards (The "Agile Kit"): Mandate clear, consistent design and product specifications for key agile elements across the entire building, or ideally, an entire portfolio. This applies particularly to interchangeable items like battery-powered Agile Furniture (Respond!, CampFire, Juce), modular wall systems, Wallies, PET acoustic panels, and low-voltage lighting fixtures. The financial benefit is profound: this standardization allows products to be seamlessly interchanged between buildings, floors, or departments, protecting capital investment and creating a high-value, readily available inventory that can be rapidly deployed for new tenants or reconfigurations.
Neutral Base-Building Aesthetic: Establish a sophisticated, high-quality, and neutral palette for all fixed finishes. Tenant personalization is achieved through highly agile elements—battery-powered Agile Furniture, area rugs, and digital signage. This eliminates the need for expensive repainting and re-finishing between tenants.
Centralized Amenity Zoning:
Collaboration Hubs: Create one large conference room near the entrance to the facility for guests—the "boardroom." Use Pods and Phone Booths (enabled by mobile power solutions like C-power) to keep all other internal meeting spaces agile and fluid.
Hospitality: Plan for coffee bars and cafe areas near the entrance.
Localized Fixed Plumbing: Plumbing is expensive and fixed. Limit fixed plumbing to only the main restrooms and one centralized cafe/break area. Utilize bottleless water dispensers for all other needs. This drastically reduces the scope and cost of future changes to amenity spaces.
Agile Space Definition and Biophilia: Incorporate movable planters to introduce biophilic elements. Strategically deploy Wallies (mobile dividing screens) alongside these planters. Both elements should be used to define aisles, direct traffic pathways, and create visual barriers to eliminate visual distraction in intense work areas.
Oversized Network Capacity: The FMP power trunk and the network fiber backbone should be oversized by a minimum of 20-25%. This preemptively mitigates future capacity limitations with a reasonable cost, allowing the building to accommodate growth in technology and tenant density without expensive service upgrades.
Segmented Wi-Fi: Anticipate and design the network architecture for segmented Wi-Fi. This enables each tenant to operate on a private, secure network immediately upon move-in, a critical feature for the multi-tenant potential of the Zero TI model.
Conclusion: The Zero TI ROI—From Cost Center to Profit Platform
In a Zero-TI facility, offices and work areas can be placed with little or no effort.
The Zero TI Retrofit is a powerful financial tool that translates design innovation into superior returns. This model delivers three distinct, compounding financial benefits:
Elimination of TI Costs: By adopting modular walls and low-voltage, mobile power, the building completely removes the $50-$100 per square foot that landlords typically absorb in construction and demolition costs during tenant churn. This immediate saving accelerates capital payback.
Operational Savings and Efficiency: Integrated, smart systems, powered by FMP and utilizing granular IoT sensors, actively monitor and reduce energy waste from lighting, HVAC, and plug loads. This leads to a demonstrable and permanent improvement in the Net Operating Income (NOI), as utility and maintenance costs are minimized and building system uptime is maximized.
Increased Asset Value and Occupancy: A building with a guaranteed Zero TI experience drastically reduces time-to-occupancy from months to days, eliminates tenant downtime, and delivers the ultimate tenant-friendly flexibility. This market advantage secures higher occupancy rates and higher valuations, transforming the asset from a fixed structure with deferred liabilities into a dynamic, high-value platform for the modern economy.
About the author
Bob Kroon is a recognized thought leader and innovator with over four decades of experience in the electro-mechanical and furniture industries. As the CEO and founder of August Berres, he envisions overcoming the limitations of traditional building power by enabling the Agile Workplace through a smart power ecosystem.
Bob passionately advocates for technologies such as building microgrids, fault-managed power (FMP), and battery-powered Agile Furniture, which are transforming the design and utilization of commercial spaces. Under his leadership, a suite of innovative solutions has been brought to market, including Respond!, Juce, CampFire, and Wallies. These products empower building owners, architects, and facility managers to retrofit buildings for today’s dynamic work environment.
