Golden Rules of Moving Office - #1

I have been in the commercial property market since 1995 and there is no doubt that moving office is considered a complicated, time consuming, stressful and potentially expensive journey into an unknown world.

I recently carried our some research which revealed that on average companies will only move office once every seven years and in 70% of cases the person assigned to manage the office move is doing so for the first time. In other words, office moves are typically managed by people without the experience, skill-set or time to manage this important role. But I don't believe that the prospect of moving office should be seen as daunting – because like any process, an office move can be broken down into a series of simple tasks and checks. The intelligent use of your project planning documents, spreadsheets and checklists will not only help you plan the office move, but also act as your road map to carry out the many tasks involved with the project.

It sounds obvious but there are some simple, golden rules that if observed should ensure a successful office move. Over the course of the coming weeks I am going to share them with you.

# 1. ASSESSING YOUR NEEDS AND CURRENT SITUATION

What is the purpose of your relocation and what are you wanting to achieve? You need to be clear about what is driving your potential office move. Lease break? Lease expiry? Planned growth? Contraction?

Only after you establish why you want to move office will you be able to define your needs and map out your office move plan. There are some big decisions that must be agreed as the start point in carrying out the move and which will form the basis of the subsequent detailed planning process. Once you have established a clear direction of what your business objectives are you can then get on with finding the right office space to deliver them.

Make sure you are you in a position to move. Questions you should be asking yourself include:

 What is your current situation?

 Have you checked your existing lease?

 How much notice do you have to give?

 What are the conditions for leaving your existing property?

 What are your current obligations & liabilities?

Top Tip: remember to contact a specialist Commercial Property Solicitor to look over your existing lease and advise you of your obligations and how to exercise your notice correctly.

I hope you find my first Golden Rule useful. You can access all 10 Golden Rules along with more free information, guides and checklists to help you manage your office relocation at www.HelpMovingOffice.co.uk

Don’t try and reinvent the wheel when you can use tried and tested moving office tools and guides.