An office move is not simply a larger version of moving house. You are relocating people, technology, records, furniture and day-to-day operations, often while customers still expect normal service.
It may be impossible to make the move completely invisible, but good planning can keep disruption short, controlled and predictable. The aim is to prevent surprises: an internet connection that is not live, a team that cannot find its equipment, confidential files left unsecured or a key supplier still sending deliveries to the old address.
This office relocation checklist takes you from the first planning meeting to the first working days in your new premises.
Office relocation checklist at a glance
| When | Main priorities |
| Three to six months before | Appoint a move lead, define the scope, inspect the new premises, set the budget and obtain removal quotes |
| Eight to twelve weeks before | Create an inventory, plan the new layout, organise IT and telecoms, and brief employees |
| Four weeks before | Confirm access, order packing materials, label departments and notify relevant organisations |
| Final week | Back up data, freeze non-essential IT changes, pack non-critical items and confirm responsibilities |
| Moving day | Follow a loading sequence, protect sensitive assets, keep an issue log and test essential systems |
| After the move | Reconcile the inventory, resolve faults, update remaining contacts and review the relocation |
Start with business continuity, not cardboard boxes
Before discussing crates or vans, decide which business functions must remain available throughout the move. These might include customer telephone lines, email, payment systems, order processing, support desks, access to essential records or a small group of employees who need to continue working.
Write a simple continuity plan that answers four questions:
● Which services are business-critical?
● How long can each service be unavailable?
● What temporary alternative will be used if the main system is not ready?
● Who has the authority to make decisions if something goes wrong?
Depending on the business, the alternative could be remote working, diverting calls to company mobiles, retaining temporary access to the old office or moving one department at a time. Agree the acceptable downtime with senior managers rather than assuming everyone has the same expectations.
Appoint one relocation lead and representatives for IT, facilities, operations, HR and communications. A single decision-maker prevents contradictory instructions on moving day, while department representatives can check that nothing important has been overlooked.
Three to six months before the move
Record what is included in the project. Will the business move every desk and filing cabinet, buy new furniture or use a mixture of both? Does the project include packing, dismantling, storage, disposal, cleaning, IT support and reinstating the old premises?
Your budget should allow for more than the removal vehicle. Consider:
● Removal, packing and insurance costs
● New furniture, signage and access systems
● Cabling, internet and telephone installation
● Cleaning and repairs at both premises
● Temporary storage
● Waste and secure document disposal
● Employee travel or parking changes
● A contingency for delays or last-minute work
A clear scope also makes quotations easier to compare. The cheapest quote may not remain the cheapest if packing, weekend work, stairs, long carrying distances or furniture assembly are charged separately.
Walk through the old and new offices with the facilities contact and, ideally, the removal company. Check entrances, corridors, stairs, lift dimensions, loading areas, height restrictions and parking rules. Confirm when contractors may enter the buildings and whether the lift or loading bay must be reserved.
At the new office, verify that there are enough power points, data ports and suitable spaces for servers, printers and shared equipment. Check accessibility, security arrangements, fire exits and emergency procedures before finalising the floor plan.
Do not assume that a desk will fit because the room looks large enough. Measure the furniture, doors and lifts, and allow space for people to move comfortably once chairs, cabinets and equipment are in place.
Choose the moving date and approach
Avoid known peak periods such as month-end, major launches, annual reporting deadlines or your busiest trading days. If possible, allow a short overlap between the two premises. That overlap provides time to test utilities and gives you an alternative workspace if a critical service is delayed.
For many businesses, an evening, weekend or phased relocation causes less disruption than closing for a full working day. However, out-of-hours access must be agreed with both building managers, and IT support should be available when systems are brought back online.
Select an experienced office removal company
Give potential movers a written inventory and request a site survey for anything more than a very small office. Ask how they will protect computers, screens, furniture, lifts, walls and floors, and whether they can dismantle and rebuild desks or storage units.
Confirm the scope in writing, including:
● Collection and delivery addresses
● Dates, arrival times and estimated completion time
● Crew size and vehicles
● Packing responsibilities and materials
● Dismantling and reassembly
● Out-of-hours or weekend work
● Insurance cover and relevant limits
● Storage or disposal requirements
● The procedure for delays, damage or changes to the inventory
Changing Keys provides office removals for anything from a single office to a commercial relocation, with packing, furniture reassembly and out-of-hours moves available.
Eight to twelve weeks before the move
Create an asset list by room or department. Include desks, chairs, cabinets, meeting-room equipment, printers, stock, kitchen items and specialist machinery. Record serial or asset numbers for valuable technology and photograph its condition before it is packed.
Give every item a destination: move, store, sell, recycle, return to a leasing company or dispose of securely. There is little value in paying to transport broken chairs, obsolete electronics or years of paperwork that the business is no longer required to retain.
If the new premises are smaller or not ready at the same time,business storage can keep non-essential furniture, stock or archives out of the way while the office is set up.
Create a numbered or colour-coded floor plan showing departments, desk positions, meeting rooms, shared equipment and storage. Give the plan to the movers before the relocation so that items can be delivered to their final positions rather than left in one large pile.
Ask team leaders to confirm special requirements, but avoid turning the move into dozens of individual layout negotiations. Set a deadline for requests and approve the final plan centrally.
Plan the IT move as a separate project
Technology is often the greatest operational risk in an office relocation. Involve your internal IT team or external provider early enough to arrange broadband, telephone numbers, network equipment, cabling and any specialist installation.
Create a shutdown and restart plan covering:
● Full, verified backups
● Equipment owners and asset numbers
● Disconnection and reconnection responsibilities
● The order in which systems will be shut down
● The order in which they must be restored
● Spare cables, adapters and replacement equipment
● Testing and escalation contacts
Do not pack unidentified cables into a communal box. Label both ends of each cable and photograph more complicated setups before disconnection. Keep the equipment required to restore core services together and clearly distinguish it from ordinary office items.
If a server or specialist device must be handled by an authorised technician, state this explicitly in the move plan. A removal crew can transport protected equipment, but that does not automatically make them responsible for your backups, configuration or network security.
Communicate with employees early
Tell employees what is changing, why the business is moving and when key decisions will be confirmed. Share practical information about the new commute, parking, building access, working hours, accessibility and any period of remote working.
Create one source of truth for relocation updates, such as an internal page or shared document. This prevents important instructions from becoming buried across long email threads.
Give staff clear packing rules. Explain what they must pack themselves, what should be left to the movers, how personal belongings will be handled and when desks must be ready. Employees should not be expected to lift heavy furniture or equipment. UK employers must avoid hazardous manual handling where reasonably practicable, assess unavoidable risks and reduce them as far as reasonably practicable, according to Health and Safety Executive guidance.
Notify customers, suppliers and official bodies
Prepare a list of everyone who uses your address or needs to know about the move. Depending on the organisation, this may include:
● Customers and key accounts
● Suppliers, couriers and maintenance providers
● Banks, insurers and finance providers
● HMRC, licensing bodies and the local authority
● Utilities, broadband and telecoms providers
● Professional memberships and industry regulators
● Website, directory and Google Business Profile administrators
● Stationery, invoice and contract owners
If the registered office changes, a UK limited company must notify Companies House within 14 days. The new address does not officially take effect until Companies House registers it. Check the current process on GOV.UK.
Arrange postal redirection as a safety net, but continue updating individual records. Redirection should not become a substitute for correcting the address used by customers and suppliers.
Book lifts, loading bays and parking spaces. Provide both reception teams with the moving schedule, vehicle details and names of contractors. Check whether the building requires risk assessments, method statements, proof of insurance, protective floor coverings or security passes in advance.
Plan how normal occupants will be separated from moving routes. Corridors and fire exits must remain clear, and staff should know which areas are temporarily restricted.
Label every crate, box and furniture item by destination rather than by its old location. A useful label contains:
● Department or team
● New room or floor
● Desk or workstation number
● Box number
● Brief contents description
● Handling instruction, where necessary
Use colours for departments and numbers for exact positions. Place labels where they remain visible when boxes are stacked. Avoid writing confidential information such as employee records or customer financial data on the outside.
Protect confidential information during the move
An office relocation creates unusual opportunities for files and devices to be misplaced or accessed by the wrong person. Include data security in the plan rather than treating it as an IT detail.
Keep sensitive paper records in sealed, numbered containers and maintain a clear handover record. Limit access to rooms where documents and devices are waiting to be moved. Encrypt portable equipment where appropriate and confirm that backups can be restored before any system is disconnected.
Do not put unwanted hard drives, laptops or confidential documents into general waste. The Information Commissioner’s Office recommends documented secure disposal methods, restricted storage for devices awaiting destruction and records showing what was destroyed. Its guidance also advises organisations to have appropriate contracts with third-party disposal providers and obtain evidence of destruction. See the ICO guidance on disposal and deletion.
Nominate a responsible employee to oversee sensitive assets from collection to delivery. The fewer uncontrolled handovers there are, the easier it is to account for every item.
The final week before the move
By the final week, the plan should be stable. Avoid introducing major new systems, changing the floor layout or adding non-essential items unless there is a genuine business need.
Complete these final checks:
● Confirm the crew, vehicles, access times and building contacts
● Test internet, phones and key services at the new office where possible
● Verify backups and document the restoration procedure
● Circulate the moving-day contact list
● Pack non-essential files, stock and equipment
● Remove waste and items that are not moving
● Prepare keys, passes and alarm instructions
● Confirm who will open and close each site
● Check weather and any access problems that could affect loading
● Photograph valuable equipment and both premises
Prepare clearly marked priority crates for items needed first, such as routers, essential documents, basic stationery, chargers, access cards and tea-making supplies. Keep them separate from items that can wait several days.
Send employees a short final brief. Tell them where to work, what time they can enter the new office, what they should take home and who to contact if they cannot access a system.
The relocation lead should be available throughout the move but should not become responsible for every physical task. Place one authorised contact at each site and give the removal supervisor the final inventory and floor plan.
Follow a deliberate loading order
Load according to the restart plan. Items required first at the new office should be accessible, not buried behind archived files or furniture. Keep departments or zones together, and make sure labels are checked as items enter and leave the vehicle.
Record delays, missing items, damage, access problems and decisions as they happen. Include the person responsible and the next action. This is more reliable than trying to reconstruct events after a long moving day.
Keep non-essential people away
A crowded workplace slows the crew and increases risk. Unless employees have a defined role, ask them to work remotely or remain away until the office has been declared ready. Do not allow staff to start unpacking in areas where furniture is still being moved.
Test critical systems before declaring the move complete
Check internet access, telephone lines, core software, printers, payment systems, door access and alarms. Test from an employee’s perspective, not just from the server room. A network may appear online while staff still lack permissions or devices cannot connect.
The first working day in the new office
Allow time for orientation rather than expecting everyone to begin at full speed immediately. Give employees a short briefing covering entrances, passes, emergency exits, first aid, meeting rooms, facilities and how to report a fault.
Assign visible support contacts for facilities and IT. Keep spare cables, keyboards, chargers and basic tools accessible. Small problems are inevitable; they become disruptive when nobody knows who owns them.
Walk through the office and check:
● Workstations, monitors and phones
● Wi-Fi and wired connections
● Printers and shared equipment
● Lighting, heating and ventilation
● Kitchens and washrooms
● Door access, alarms and visitor procedures
● Accessible routes and workstations
● Fire exits and evacuation information
If some teams can work remotely for another day, consider a staggered return. It gives IT and facilities staff space to resolve issues before the office is full.
Reconcile the delivered items against the inventory and report missing or damaged assets promptly under the agreed process. Return rented crates, close temporary storage arrangements when no longer needed and complete any work required at the former premises.
Check digital and printed touchpoints again: email signatures, invoices, proposals, website contact pages, online listings, delivery instructions and emergency contact records. Ask the post room to track incorrectly addressed mail so that the remaining records can be updated.
Finally, hold a short review with the project team. Record what worked, what caused delays and which supplier or process changes should be retained. This is valuable even if the business does not expect to move again soon; the same lessons can improve future refits, department moves and continuity planning.
Questions to ask an office removal company
Before booking, ask:
1. Have you completed moves of a similar size and complexity?
2. Can you survey both properties before quoting?
3. Is packing included, and who supplies crates and protective materials?
4. Can you dismantle and reassemble office furniture?
5. How will computers, monitors and specialist equipment be protected?
6. Can the move take place in phases, outside normal hours or at a weekend?
7. What insurance applies, and what are the exclusions and claim limits?
8. Can you provide temporary storage or remove unwanted items?
9. What access information do you need from the building managers?
10. Who will supervise the crew and act as the main contact on the day?
The answers should appear in the written quotation or move plan. Do not rely on verbal assumptions for business-critical work.
Make disruption planned rather than accidental
The most successful office moves are not necessarily the ones completed fastest. They are the ones in which every critical service has an owner, every asset has a destination and every likely problem has a fallback.
Start early, separate the IT plan from the physical move, communicate clearly and use a professional crew for the work that should not be left to employees. With the right preparation, the business can continue serving customers while the relocation happens in a controlled window.
Planning an office move? Contact Changing Keys for a tailored office removals quote, including packing, furniture dismantling and reassembly, equipment transport, and evening or weekend scheduling where required.
