The guide
Office Move Checklist for London: A 12-Week Plan in full
Weeks 12–9: dates, budget and surveys
Everything downstream hangs off two dates: when the new floor is available for fit-out, and when the old lease ends with dilapidations complete. Get both in writing before you brief anyone internally, because they rarely align neatly and the gap decides whether you need business storage.
Book removal surveys at both addresses in this window. A surveyor counts desks, IT positions, storage units and anything unusual — safes, plan chests, server racks, a kitchen — then reads the access at both ends. That is what turns a guess into a fixed project price you can put in the budget.
Barnet: Applied to Barnet: 26,590 registered businesses sit in this borough and 145,000 people work here, so the step above is usually run for a ten to fifty desk suite rather than a whole tower. 91.8% of firms here employ fewer than ten people, which is why the survey and the switchover normally fit into one weekend.
- Confirm lease end, dilapidations scope and new-floor access dates
- Book removal surveys at both addresses and get fixed project prices
- Check the destination building's rules: lift booking, out-of-hours access, insurance limits
- Give telecoms and broadband providers notice — this is the single longest lead time in the whole plan
Weeks 8–5: the move plan, RAMS and IT
Approve one supplier and lock the switchover weekend. In London the last weekend of a month and every quarter-end go first, so a date held now is worth more than a slightly cheaper quote taken later.
Your mover issues the method statement, risk assessment and insurance certificates in this window, because most managing agents want them at least five working days ahead and some want them signed off by building management before passes are issued.
Run IT in parallel. Circuits, patching and any new cabling at the destination need to be live and tested before move weekend — a crew can rebuild a floor in a night, but nobody can conjure a leased line on a Sunday.
Barnet: In Barnet the building type sets the pace. Small office suites above retail, dental and medical practices, solicitors and accountants, salons, clinics and studios in single-storey or first-floor units with no lift and no dedicated bin store. The commercial weight sits around Finchley, High Barnet, and that decides crate volumes, how many goods-lift bookings the switchover needs and whether it runs over an evening or a full weekend.
- Sign the move plan and confirm the switchover window with both buildings
- Issue RAMS and insurance certificates to your managing agent
- Confirm structured cabling, patching and circuit live dates with your IT provider
- Decide what is being disposed of — desking, pedestals, screens — and get it quoted as part of the move
Weeks 4–2: crates, floor plans and people
Crates arrive about a week before the move with labels and a seat-numbered destination plan. Give staff a fixed pack-down deadline — end of business the day before the move, not the morning of it — and make it clear that personal items and desk plants travel with them.
Publish the destination floor plan with seat numbers on it. Every crate, monitor bag and pedestal gets that number, which is what makes a rebuilt floor findable at 08:00 on Monday rather than a treasure hunt.
Brief reception, security and cleaners at both buildings, and tell clients and suppliers the address is changing. Update the Google Business Profile, invoices, letterheads and email footers on a date you set, not ad hoc.
Barnet: Access in Barnet is the part that slips. A single street door with your own key, no concierge and no goods lift — the practical issues are stairs, bin day and where the van sits for twenty minutes. Mostly driveway parking, but Golders Green and Finchley Central have tight CPZs and busy A-road frontages. On top of that, the borough is outside the Congestion Charge zone but inside ULEZ, so the access line that moves the price is a bay suspension with London Borough of Barnet, booked around ten working days ahead.
- Crates and IT bags delivered, labels issued, packing deadline announced
- Seat-numbered floor plan circulated to staff and to the move crew
- Confirm lift slots, loading bays and out-of-hours access at both ends
- Book the clearance load for redundant furniture and WEEE
The switchover weekend and the week after
Loading starts after close of business. Protection goes down on lifts, floors and door frames first, then crates and IT travel, then furniture. At the destination the floor is built to the plan and workstations reconnected so a sample of desks can be powered up and tested before the crew leaves.
Keep the snagging week deliberately light on meetings. Expect a handful of missing cables, one monitor arm that will not fit and at least one department that wants to move two desks. Empty crates are collected within five working days, and the waste transfer note for anything cleared goes into the dilapidations file.
Barnet: Sector mix matters to how this plays out locally: Health and social care is the largest employer in Barnet at 16.9% of borough jobs, with Retail and wholesale at 15.5%. That shapes what actually gets moved — desk density, server rooms, storage and regulated paperwork all differ by trade, and the survey prices the borough's real mix rather than a generic desk count.