An office move is a different undertaking from a home removal. The stakes are higher, the logistics are more complex, and the cost of getting it wrong extends beyond damaged furniture to lost working hours, disrupted clients, and staff who arrive at a new building that is not ready for them.
Done well, an office relocation is straightforward. The difference is almost always in how early the planning starts and how much detail goes into the preparation. This guide covers everything a business needs to consider when planning an office move in London.
Start planning earlier than you think necessary
The most common mistake businesses make with office moves is underestimating how long the planning phase takes. For a small office of 10 to 20 people, 6 to 8 weeks is a realistic minimum. For a larger team or a move involving significant IT infrastructure, three to six months is not unusual.
The key early decisions, confirming the move date, notifying the landlord at the old premises, and booking the removal company, all have lead times that compress quickly if left too late. Good office removal companies book up in advance, particularly for weekends and out-of-hours moves, which are the preferred slots for most businesses.
Set a move date and work backwards from it. Every other task in the plan should have a deadline anchored to that date.
Decide on the timing of the move
The timing of an office move involves two separate questions: which date, and which time of day.
The last day of a month or quarter is the most common choice because it aligns with lease breaks, accounting periods, and client billing cycles. The trade-off is that these are also the busiest periods for removal companies and for building management teams at the new address. If your move date is flexible, mid-month on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday tends to give you more options and often better pricing.
Some businesses choose to operate out of hours, either over the weekend or overnight, to avoid any interruption to the working day. This adds a small premium to the cost but eliminates the disruption of having staff displaced while the move is underway. For smaller offices where a half-day shutdown is manageable, a Friday afternoon start can work well, with the new space ready for Monday morning.
Discuss both questions with your removal company early. They will have experience of what works at your specific type of premises and can advise on realistic timescales.
Audit what is being moved before anything else
Before you can plan the logistics, you need to know exactly what is moving. This sounds obvious but is often skipped, leading to inaccurate quotes, incorrect vehicle sizes, and items arriving at the new building that were never meant to arrive.
Walk through every area of the current office systematically: workstations, storage rooms, server rooms, kitchen equipment, communal areas. Create a written inventory that distinguishes among items being moved, items being disposed of, and items that belong to the building or landlord and are left behind. Check the lease carefully. Some office furniture, particularly fitted shelving, kitchen appliances, and air conditioning units, may be the landlord's property.
Items being disposed of need to be handled before moving day, not on it. Arrange for secure document shredding, electronics recycling, and furniture disposal in the weeks before the move rather than leaving it to the last minute.
Plan the IT move carefully
IT is the highest-risk element of any office relocation and the one most likely to cause extended disruption if it goes wrong. Servers, networking equipment, and workstations need to be disconnected, transported, and reconnected in a specific sequence, and the new premises need to have connectivity tested and ready before anyone arrives.
Involve your IT manager or external IT support from the beginning of the move plan, not as an afterthought in the final week. Key questions to resolve early include: when will the new broadband or leased line be live, who is responsible for reconnecting the server and networking equipment, and what is the contingency if connectivity is not ready on day one?
Workstations should be packed by the person using them where possible, since they know which cables belong where. Label everything clearly, including the back of monitors, keyboards, and docking stations. Taking a photograph of each desk setup before disconnection saves a significant amount of time at the other end.
Back up all data before the move, regardless of how confident you are in the process. This is non-negotiable.
Check access at both buildings in detail
London commercial buildings vary enormously in how they handle removals. Many central London offices have strict rules around loading bay access, goods lift booking windows, and the hours during which moves are permitted. Some buildings require the removal company to be registered with the building management team in advance. Some restrict moves to specific days or times to avoid clashing with other tenants.
Contact the building management at both the old and new premises well in advance and find out exactly what the restrictions are. Key questions to ask include: is there a dedicated loading bay, what are the permitted hours for the move, is there a goods lift and how large is it, and is any deposit required from the removal company?
At street level, check parking arrangements at both addresses. On permit-controlled roads in London, a parking suspension will be needed to reserve space for the removal vehicle. Applications need to be submitted to the council at least five working days before the move, and some boroughs require a longer lead time. This step is consistently overlooked, causing avoidable problems on moving day.
Communicate with your team throughout
An office move affects everyone in the business, and people respond better when they know what is happening and what is expected of them. Poor communication is one of the most common sources of friction in office relocations.
Brief the whole team as soon as the move date is confirmed. Tell them the date, the new address, any changes to commuting routes or transport links, and what they need to do to prepare their own workstation for the move. Give them a clear packing deadline and supply the materials they need: boxes, labels, and cable ties.
Designate a move coordinator, one person who is the single point of contact between the business and the removal company. This avoids conflicting instructions on the day and ensures any issues are resolved quickly rather than escalating.
Notify clients, suppliers, and third parties
A change of office address needs to be communicated to a longer list of contacts than most businesses initially expect. Start with the essentials: clients, key suppliers, your bank, Companies House, and HMRC. Then work through the less obvious ones: your insurance provider, utility companies, IT and telecoms suppliers, any subscription services, your Royal Mail redirect if relevant, and the Electoral Roll if any directors are registered at the office address.
Update your website, email signatures, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn company page, and any online directories where the old address appears. An outdated address in Google Maps or on a key trade directory can misdirect clients and suppliers for months if not corrected promptly.
Build a checklist and work through it in the two weeks before the move. Do not leave address updates until after you have moved, because the distraction of settling into the new space means they get forgotten.
Prepare the new office before moving day
Arriving at a new office that is not ready to receive people is one of the most avoidable problems in office relocations, and one of the most common. Before moving day, confirm that the new premises have everything needed to become operational: electricity and water are connected, broadband is live, or a confirmed connection date is in place, access credentials and keys are distributed to the relevant people, and any fit-out or furniture assembly is completed.
If the new office needs any work done before arrival, such as painting, flooring, or furniture installation, schedule it with a sufficient buffer to ensure it is finished before the removal crew arrives. Trades running over are a very common cause of delays on moving day.
Walk through the new space in advance with the floor plan and mark out where each team and each piece of furniture will go. Share this with the removal company before the move so the crew know exactly where everything is going when they arrive. This one step saves hours of repositioning on the day.
If furniture assembly is needed at the new premises, arrange for it to be done as part of the move rather than as a separate job afterwards.
On the day
With thorough preparation, moving day itself should be the least stressful part of the process. Have the move coordinator present throughout. Make sure the crew have a labelled floor plan of the new office and can access both buildings without delays. Do a final walkthrough of the old premises before handing back the keys to confirm nothing has been left behind and that no damage has occurred that could affect the deposit.
At the new premises, check that everything has arrived before the crew leaves. Any damage or missing items are significantly easier to resolve on the day than after the event.
Frequently asked questions
How long does an office move take?
This depends on the size of the office. A small team of five to ten people can usually be moved in a single day. A larger office of fifty or more people may take a full weekend or require a phased approach over multiple days. Your removal company will advise based on a survey of the volume involved.
Should we move over a weekend or out of hours?
For most businesses, yes. A weekend move means staff arrive at the new office on Monday morning without disrupting the working week. The cost is marginally higher than a weekday move but is almost always worth it. Discuss options with your removal company when booking.
What happens if the new office is not ready on moving day?
This is a risk worth mitigating with thorough preparation. If it does happen, a reputable removal company can usually hold items in the vehicle for a short period or arrange temporary storage. Agree what the contingency is before moving day, not on it.
Do we need to tell Companies House about the new address?
Yes, if the new office is your registered company address. This must be updated at Companies House within 14 days of the change. HMRC should also be notified separately.
An office move done properly is a process, not an event. The quality of the outcome on moving day is almost entirely determined by the quality of preparation in the weeks leading up to it. The businesses that move smoothly are the ones that started planning early, communicated clearly, and chose a removal company with genuine experience of commercial relocations in London.
Best London Removals Ltd carries out home, flat, and office removals across all London boroughs, with surveys, fixed-price quotations, and access planning included as standard. Smaller jobs are available as man and van hourly bookings, where the team advises a realistic time estimate based on the scope of the work.
