How a clinic renovation differs from an office fit-out
A clinic renovation starts with the type of healthcare activity, not with finishes: it drives the ventilation, the number of hand basins, the layout, the materials and the paperwork needed to license the centre. The project is drawn up for that activity before any work begins; otherwise part of the job ends up being redone.
An office needs partitions, lighting and furniture. A dental, physiotherapy or psychology practice has other demands: air change rates, washable surfaces, access for people with reduced mobility, sound insulation between consulting rooms, and separate clean and dirty circuits. All of this goes into the technical project and is checked during licensing.
Check the premises before you sign a lease or buy
The most expensive mistakes happen before the works. The unit is chosen on price and location, and only then does it turn out that there is no route for the extract duct, the ceiling height cannot take the ductwork, or the step at the entrance calls for a ramp or a platform lift.
Before signing, check four things. Whether planning rules allow healthcare use in that unit. Whether there is a duct route and an air discharge point to the roof or a courtyard. How much ceiling height is left under the suspended ceiling once services are in. Whether an accessible entrance and toilet can be built. The activity licence process itself has its own article; the point here is that the technical check comes first.
Building services: air, climate, power and water
In a healthcare centre the ventilation runs all day, so a heat-recovery unit pays for itself: outside air comes in already tempered, and climate bills do not climb with the required air flow. The unit needs space and access for filter changes, and that is settled at layout stage, not once the ceiling is closed.
Power is sized for the real equipment: treatment chairs, autoclaves, computers, medical devices. Each room needs its own sockets and dedicated circuits. Water and drainage appear where an office had none: basins in consulting rooms, toilets for staff and patients and, for some specialities, a sterilisation area.
Finishes and layout for clinical use
Surfaces have to cope with daily disinfection. Floors without deep joints, walls in washable paint or panels, skirting that does not trap dirt. Textured materials that work well in a home look tired very quickly in a clinic.
In psychology, psychiatry or any practice built on conversation, the key parameter is sound. What is said inside a room must not be heard in the corridor. That means partitions insulated all the way up to the slab, not just to the suspended ceiling, and doors chosen to the same standard. The layout is organised around routes: patients move from reception to waiting to consulting room, staff have their own circulation, and clean and used items never cross.
Real case: a 250 m² children’s psychology centre in the Eixample
From January to June 2026 BCN YARD renovated a 250 m² children’s psychology centre in the Eixample. There were three goals: quiet consulting rooms, a calm interior without visual clutter for children, and licensing of the healthcare activity.
The project has 24 concealed doors. They take the hospital feel out of the corridors, but each one needs its frame set precisely during the partition stage: a flush door cannot be adjusted after painting. The climate system uses heat recovery, and the ducts were routed so that the consulting rooms kept a comfortable ceiling height. The licensing paperwork was prepared in parallel with the works, so the opening did not wait on documents. Photos are on the projects page.
Sequence of works and where time gets lost
The order that works is: activity and equipment list, survey of the premises, technical project with services, submission of documents, strip-out and preparatory works, services, partitions and acoustic insulation, finishes, commissioning and preparation for inspection.
Time is lost in three places. Equipment is chosen after power and water have already been run. Furniture and doors are ordered before the layout is fixed. Paperwork is left to the end, and the finished unit sits empty while the business pays rent. Actual licensing timescales depend on the activity and are confirmed with the gestor and the relevant authority.
What to bring to the first meeting
To make the first conversation useful, gather the type of activity and the practitioners involved, the number of consulting rooms, the equipment list with data sheets, a floor plan or at least the address and floor area, and your target opening date.
Every project has a single person in charge; our own crew does the work, and specialist trades such as ventilation go to trusted subcontractors. We run projects in Spanish and Russian, and payments follow contract stages. We reply to every enquiry within an hour and prepare the quote after a site visit and measurements.