Moving office in London – Digital Agency moving from Oxford Street to Liverpool Street
On good Friday this year, we helped Marketing agency Harvest Digital move office from just off Oxford Street to their shiny new premises in trendy Shoreditch. One of the smoothest office moves we’ve completed in recent times due to the timing and quiet roads in central London over the long Easter weekend. From our clients perspective the idea of an exit date at Easter was a potential headache in terms of costs and man power. Many staff would be away on holiday and indeed many other removal companies would charge an additional premium for the date. This post will highlight how we managed the move and took the stress and the over inflated costs out of the equation.
Before the move – Quoting was easy, a telephone call to discuss the number of staff, office furniture, meeting rooms, kitchen areas and any other peripheral items. An assessment visit was conducted to visualise the physical volume of goods and photographs to refer back to when quoting for boxes, men, vans and labour time required. Additionally, we reviewed access and security measures for the building to ensure all contingencies were taken care of. Initially the client requested one large cardboard box per staff member as they were hoping the transition to the new office would be opportunity to put in place a clear desk policy, we also provided and additional set for all other items in the office. And finally invoice was dispatched with a deposit to cover 10% of the labour fee and the cost of all packing materials to lock in the dates. One of the reasons Harvest we keen on our quote is that our commercial rates were not artificially inflated for the Easter weekend.
Packing for the move – As is often the case in any office move the number of additional items that come out of the woodwork and the personal challenges to staff to reduce the number of items they wished to take meant that one large box per staff member was not enough. At short notice, we were able to provided an additional set of heavy duty plastic crates to cater for the left over items and added that rental figure to the final invoice, the swift turn around meant that preparation for the move was minimally impacted and the all aspects of the project came in on time. Packing for the move was also made seamless with a clear labelling system in conjunction with clearly annotated floor plans that we discussed with the office manager in advance. This ensured that all personal and essential items would be placed in the correct location at the other end and minimise staff disruption when they returned to work.
The moving day – It was one of the few quiet days on the roads in London, so access and travel to and from the premises was quick and easy. The main challenge of the day despite clear roads and easy access was the awful wet weather. However, with carefully planned routes for men through the building, we were able to ensure that only dry boot set foot in both offices in order to minimise any filth from the wet streets being trampled in.
Following the move – Early the next week once the unpacking had been taken care of, we returned to take away the rented plastic crates with the option for the disposal of any old obsolete office items that the company wanted to get rid of.
The result ultimate result was a very happy client and their agreement to show case the move on our Blog. We wish Harvest Digital all the best in their new premises.
