The Knight Frank Checklist for Moving Offices

Once you know what type of office space you want - managed, serviced or coworking, and have an idea of the size of the space you need, the next step is to get the move done. We’re going to help you with that in our ultimate office move checklist.

Your Step by Step Guide to Office Relocation

Whether you’re switching to a hybrid working model, want to downsize your headquarters and create more local hubs, or simply think you can save money by moving, here’s everything you need to consider when looking at an office relocation. As well as step-by-step details, our office relocation checklist also includes an office move timeline to help you reduce the disruption to your business.

Step One: Consider Your Business’s Needs

Once you decide to move offices, your first step is to think carefully about the type of space you need. Offices come in all shapes and sizes, locations, and agreement types, so you should assess the needs of your business to find the right fit. Here are a few things to think about:

Your future business plans

Just like moving home, an office move is not cheap. It can be logistically difficult too, so with that in mind, it’s important to think about what your needs are now but also what your business will look like one, three and five years down the line. Fundamentally, you’ll need to define whether growth vs scaling your business is right for the organisation. Other considerations are: 

• What sort of working model do you operate now (hybrid, remote or office-only) and will that change in the future?
• Is a serviced office (a purpose-built space you can move into and start work immediately) or a managed office (a more customisable space that you can design and brand), or a conventional longer term lease (a blank canvas giving you complete design autonomy)  a better fit?
• How many people do you plan to hire over the next few years and how much space will they need?
• What type of office floor plan (cubicle, open plan, collaborative, etc.) is right for your team?

Once you have an answer to these questions, you can start comparing the floor plans and agreement types to find a space that suits you.

Attracting clients

It’s not only the needs of your business that you need to think about. The next step on your office move checklist is to consider how your office space and its location will affect your ability to attract clients. Choosing an office in a prestigious location might cost more but it could help you attract better clients and even increase your fees. Similarly, a managed office that you can personalise with your brand could act as a shop window for your business and help you create an identity your clients (and employees!) want to be a part of.

Attracting talent

Your office space is a key recruitment and retention tool, so factor in the impact your office move will have on your current employees and new hires. If your new workspace is difficult to get to or in an undesirable area, it could affect your ability to hire the best talent and keep the workers you value the most.

Productivity and work-life balance

Staff wellbeing has a crucial role to play in their productivity, morale and engagement, so be sure to think about the work-life balance of your staff when choosing a new office location. Are there plenty of green spaces nearby? Do you have cafes and shops selling nutritious food? Even things like the availability of parking and the amount of natural light can affect the happiness and productivity of your team.

Step Two: Start Planning Your Office Move

Once you’ve found an office space that ticks your boxes, you can get down to the important business of planning your office move and making an office move timeline. These are the steps to take once you have signed an agreement and confirmed your moving date.

Give official notice to your current landlord

Notice periods can vary considerably depending on the type of agreement you have (so read your existing contract carefully!) - but you can expect to give anything from one month to six months’ notice on your current deal. We strongly advise engaging an expert like Knight Frank to review your position, ahead of the notice date, and define with you the appropriate timeline to source, negotiate, acquire and make the move itself.

Make an office relocation announcement to your team

One of the most important points on any office relocation checklist is to inform and engage your team. At the appropriate time, you should tell them the moving date and the new office address. Generally speaking though, the more involved they are in the move, the better, so you may wish to explain the reasons for the move, the benefits to them and the business and any changes it may bring to their daily routine.

Create an office relocation team

With so much to do, you shouldn’t leave anything to chance. The best way to do that is to create an office relocation team to work under an office move manager who has ultimate responsibility for the project. You should sit down with your office move manager at least three or four months before the moving date to start planning the logistics of the move itself. You can establish priorities for your relocation team and decide whether you’ll need any outside help. As an example, specialist IT relocators can move all of your tech equipment safely and set it up in your new office on your behalf.

Finalise your office floor plan

Visit your new location and make sure you understand its IT capabilities, facilities and utilities. You can then blueprint your office space and think about any changes you may need to make to the fixtures, IT infrastructure and workstations before finalising the floor plan. In today’s world of hybrid working, consider an agile office design to make the most of the space.

Spring clean and upgrade your systems

An office move is a perfect opportunity to get to grips with your existing office equipment and either upgrade what you have or get rid of the items you don’t need. Any upgrades should be made in line with your moving budget.

Step Three: Research Costs and Set a Budget

Even if you’re reducing the size of your office space, your office move will still attract some upfront costs. You should set a budget at least three months before moving day and start calling around immediately to get quotes and check the availability of service providers such as removal teams.

Research the hidden costs of your office move

There are some obvious costs to tick off your office relocation checklist, such as removal firms, security deposits, rent, interior design fees and new furniture. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of other costs that you may not immediately think of but will chip into your budget, including:

• Dilapidations for the property you’re moving from
• Cleaning
• Storage
• Administrative fees
• Post redirection
• Insurance
• Solicitor’s fees
• Agent’s fees (for traditional leased space)

You may have a figure in mind, but it’s best to ring around to firm up those figures for your budgeting.

Make sure you’re fully insured

It’s worth asking your removals company what insurance they carry. They should have at least public liability insurance and goods in transit cover in place. If you need extra cover, a removals and storage insurance policy will help you rest easy knowing that your expensive equipment is protected in the event of any damage.

Step Four: Prepare for the Office Move

Now you can focus on the logistics of your move. You should start the planning process in the month leading up to your move, and there’s plenty to keep you busy. This is where a good office move manager is worth their weight in gold.

Conduct a stock and inventory check

Now is the time to make an inventory of everything you want to take with you. It’s a good idea to come up with a standardised way of labelling your equipment so you know exactly what needs to go where. Using colour codes for different departments and assigning all employees a number is a simple way to do that. It’s also important to do a thorough stock check so you know exactly what you have, what you’re moving and what’s being sold so you can track it from one space to another.

Finalise the moving details

The packing supplies will usually be provided by your removal firm, but if not, order boxes, crates, tape and labels to make the move easier and spare yourself some misery when unpacking. You can then book parking space permits and local licences for moving day to prevent any unnecessary delays.

Prepare your employees’ equipment

The next job on your moving office checklist is to tell your staff when they should pack up their desk and the procedure for doing so. Any employees who are on holiday during the move should pack up their things before they go. You should also explain how and where employees should work on the day of the move so they can put the necessary arrangements in place.

Brief the office relocation team

Make keys, access codes and any other security information available to your moving team and give them a copy of the floorplan of your new office. You should also make sure everyone knows what they’re doing on the day and give them the details of someone they can contact in an emergency.

Step Five: Settling Into Your New Office

If you’ve followed our office move checklist to this point, moving day should go without a hitch. Once the big day is over, you can set everything up in your new office and get back down to business quickly.

Follow your floor plan

Even the best-laid plans often go wrong, so you might find that you need to make some adjustments to your floorplan when setting up desks, equipment and furniture. Despite that, the colour coding and numbering system you used to identify the department and employee for each piece of equipment should make this process relatively painless.

Set up IT equipment

Crawling around under desks to set up all the cabling for your computers, telephone lines and other equipment is not everyone’s idea of a good time. This is where the help of your in-house IT team or your serviced office IT relocation team will be invaluable.

Double-check your inventory

Once everything is set up, take a final inventory to make sure it tallies with the inventory you took before the move. That will make sure all of your IT equipment, stock, machinery and furniture have made it successfully to your new office. If you notice any damage, report it to your moving company and your insurers.

Announce the move publicly

Communicating your intention to move to your clients is one of the more exciting jobs to tick off your office relocation checklist. You should notify everyone, from customers and clients to suppliers and partners, and include your change of address and new contact information. Other parties to inform include HMRC, Companies House, any service providers, your bank, insurance companies and any professional bodies you belong to. Some nice photographs of your new space will be perfect for social media, while a quick blog post can provide a bit more information. Hosting an office warming is a great way to thank the staff for their hard work and show your clients that you’re back to business.

Don’t forget to decorate your office

Global research has shown that when employees like their office space they’re more likely to engage with their job, come to the office more and are more likely to stay. How you choose to decorate and light your office space will massively impact the environment and therefore, your employees productivity. Read our blog for tips and tricks on how to decorate a new office space.

Looking for Office Space?

If you’re currently at step one of our office relocation checklist and searching for office space that meets the particular needs of your business, we can help.

Just tell our office space experts what you’re looking for and we’ll do the hard work for you. We’ll arrange your viewings and accompany you to appointments so you can ask any questions there and then. We can also take care of the negotiations, leveraging our market knowledge to get you the best price. And what’s more, our expertise won’t cost you a penny.