Organising an office move or refurbishment can be daunting. Where do you start? Follow our ten-step checklist to ensure a smooth transition.
Step 1: Determine Why
Create a list of pros and cons for your new office or refurbishment.
- Is an approaching lease renewal triggering you to explore your options?
- Is growth the predominant factor and you simply need a larger space to accommodate more staff?
- Has your office become dated, inefficient and lacklustre? Does your space fail to tell your story and inspire you?
More than ever, the office has the power to attract and retain the best staff and promote collaboration, flexibility and innovation. Can your current space deliver or do you need to relocate to new premises to create a fresh, vibrant workplace?
Step 2: Assemble Your Team
Select a dedicated project champion – someone in your organisation who can make decisions, who can communicate well and has the enthusiasm to create a better workplace.
Decide who else needs to be involved to provide input and feedback to staff. Form a small project team with representatives from different departments (include IT, HR, facilities, marketing, operations, PA’s and finance), but let them know that the project champion will be in charge.
Step 3: Determine Your Space Requirements
Have your project team discuss what they like and dislike about your current workspace. Pinpoint issues that need to be resolved such as ineffective communication between teams, lack of public transport or parking, scarcity of meeting rooms and private spaces or shortage of space for growth.
With the help of your interior designer, this list will develop into a brief detailing what you want to achieve.
Step 4: Appoint an Interior Designer
Getting a good Interior Designer involved early, means that you will have a neutral expert available to provide you with invaluable recommendations upfront that can help you select the best possible building or save you from an unnecessary move. An Interior Designer can:
- Develop your deliverables into a thorough design brief for the project
- deliver sketch plans to test the suitability of different spaces or get your current space to work
- provide detailed analysis of your required floor area
- offer accurate budget advice
- co-ordinate a services survey that can identify issues and assist with landlord negotiation as each defect will have a potential financial implication
- identify each buildings’ unique characteristics that will affect how you use and lay out the space
Step 5: Finalise a Realistic Project Budget
Your interior designer should be able to help you create a base level budget founded on what you want to create, and the size and complexity of the project. This should include building works, services, furniture, workstations, design and local authority fees and of course a contingency for unforeseen costs.
Step 6: Speak with Commercial Property Agents
After working with your interior designer, you will now have the information you require to appoint a commercial property agent(s) in your area. You will know your move-in date, your desired location and have a brief which includes an accurate measure of the space and facilities required. Your property agent(s) will then recommend several potential properties to view.
Step 7: Select Your New Office Space
Further to the brief you have developed in step 3, our blog article ‘Finding the Right Office Space’ has a checklist to rate different properties against each other with regards to their location, the tenancy and the building. This will help you decide on a preferred property so that your interior designer can conduct the necessary surveys, feasibility studies and provide a sketch plan for your potential space.
Once the decision is made it is now time to negotiate your lease with your landlord.
Step 8: Work Closely with Your Interior Designer
A good interior Designer will look after the design and construction phases on your behalf and keep you well informed. They will prepare a detailed program with key milestones for the design and construction of your project including relevant approvals from local authorities, permissions from the landlord and any staging that might be required for your move.
The design process will involve a series of design meetings, presentations and workshops to ensure that your staff can provide input into the project. Over the course of these presentations your project will come to life.
Your interior designer will tender the completed drawings and schedules to several fit-out contractors to ensure that you get the best market price for your fit-out or refurbishment. When construction on site commences, you will participate in weekly site meetings with the interior designer and builder to discuss and resolve an issues or challenges that may arise.
Step 9: Manage Your Office Move
Once construction is underway you need to plan and manage your office move and the transition into your new space. There is a lot to consider at this stage. Contact us for a copy of our ‘Office Move Client Checklist’.
Step 10: Move In
Communication with staff is critical at this point to ensure that everyone knows transport details, the seating plan and is issued with access cards. Furniture should be installed in advance and IT and AV systems should be tested by your IT team to ensure they are working properly for when your staff arrive.
We recommend hosting a team breakfast or a party for clients and staff to celebrate the new space. It’s the beginning of a new era, so worth marking the occasion.
