Raised floors are used in office buildings with a high requirement for servicing, such as IT data centers, and carry cables, electrical supply, and sometimes air conditioning, server racks, or desks in landscaped office areas.

Raised floors are usually liftable floor panels on a gridded layout of adjustable-height metal legs.

In Green buildings, the ceiling of a space might be the exposed surface of the concrete floor above (the soffit) (to give better thermal capacity) - so a raised floor can be part of a green strategy - it can carry ventilation services and water supply.