An office move in Central London is a paperwork exercise with some lifting at the end. Loading dock booked, goods lift reserved, crew names and insurance filed with building security, method statement supplied if the building wants one. Get that in place and the move itself is straightforward.
Why most Central London office moves happen out of hours
Because the streets and the lifts are both usable. High Holborn at midday is unworkable, and a shared goods lift in a busy building will give you one trip every fifteen minutes. On a Saturday morning the same building will release the lift for the whole job and the street outside is empty.
The move takes half as long for the same work, and nobody in your business loses a working day. Out of hours slots need booking further ahead because there are fewer of them and the building has to agree to open, but for anything above a few desks it is almost always the right call.
Building security, and the delay that is entirely avoidable
City and Westminster buildings routinely want crew names, vehicle registration and evidence of public liability and goods in transit insurance filed several working days ahead. Some want a method statement and RAMS documentation as well.
We supply all of it, but we need the building contact early rather than the day before. A crew standing at a security desk while somebody tries to reach a facilities manager is the single most common way an office move loses its first hour, and it is completely preventable.
Archives, files and the weight nobody plans for
A room of deed boxes or filing weighs considerably more than the same volume of furniture and will destroy an under-specified crate. We see this most in Holborn and around the Inns of Court, where a set of chambers can shed a genuinely startling quantity of paper.
We crate and stack it properly rather than loading loose. That takes longer at the loading end and vastly less time at the other, because boxes arrive labelled and intact instead of as a pile that has to be re-sorted.
Desks, screens and IT equipment
Desks come apart and go back together. Monitors and machines travel wrapped and boxed rather than loose in a stack, and server cabinets go on a proper trolley with the contents secured rather than being walked across a floor.
What we do not do is decommission or recommission. Your IT people disconnect at one end and reconnect at the other, and that split is worth agreeing in advance so nobody is waiting on anybody. We will work to their schedule for what comes out first and what goes in first.
Studios, chambers and the awkward end of commercial
Not every office is desks. Clerkenwell and Shoreditch studios come with plan chests, sample libraries and material stores. Chambers come with deed boxes and wigs. Post-production suites in Soho come with racks and screens that cost more than the van.
Plan chests move with the drawers out and secured separately. Sample libraries need crating rather than stacking. Anything genuinely delicate is worth flagging when you book so the right padding is on the van rather than improvised on the day.
Who this is for
Small and mid-sized businesses moving within Central London, typically five to fifty desks: studios, chambers, professional offices, agencies and co-working occupants.
What is included
- Loading dock and goods lift booking arranged with the building
- Crew names, vehicle registration and insurance evidence filed with building security in advance
- Desk dismantling and reassembly
- Crating for archives, files and deed boxes rather than loose stacking
- Labelling by destination room or desk
- Evening, overnight and weekend slots
- A fixed price for the whole move rather than a day rate that drifts
What is not included
Stated plainly so nobody books the wrong thing.
- IT decommissioning and recommissioning, which your own team should handle
- Dismantling fitted furniture, partitions or fixed shelving
- Full relocation project management, though we work alongside whoever is doing it
- Confidential document destruction, which needs a certified provider
Access and what to plan for
Commercial buildings are governed by their own rules rather than by the street. We need to know whether there is a loading dock and its height limit, whether the goods lift must be booked and for how long, what security requires and by when, and whether the building permits out of hours access at all. For anything above roughly fifteen desks we would rather walk the site first, because a quote built from a description of a large office is a guess.
Van and crew
Office moves usually run in Lutons, with more than one where the volume or the time window demands it. Loading docks have height restrictions that often rule out a box van, so the stated headroom decides the vehicle. Where a dock is tight we run smaller vans in rotation, which is frequently faster anyway because the dock only takes one vehicle at a time.
What we bring
- Crates for files and archives
- Moving blankets and screen sleeves
- Ratchet straps
- Flat trolleys and cabinet dollies
- Floor protection for lobbies and lift cars
- Labels for destination rooms and desks
- Tool kit for desk dismantling
What it costs
£650 to £1,600
For office move in Central London, including VAT, the crew, the van, the wrapping, the fuel and the Congestion Charge. Most land near £1,050.
Worked examples and what moves the figure →Where in that band you land is set by these.
- Number of desks and total volume
- Access and dock arrangements at both ends
- Whether it runs in hours or out of hours
- Quantity of archive and paper
- Number of floors involved
- How tight the time window is
How much notice we need
Two to four weeks for anything above a handful of desks, driven less by our diary than by building security and dock booking, both of which can want several working days. Weekend and overnight slots are limited and go first. If your lease end is fixed, get in touch as soon as you know it, since the building approvals are the long pole rather than the move itself.
How to book
- Tell us the two addresses, the desk count and your target date
- We arrange a site visit for anything above roughly fifteen desks
- Give us the building contacts so we can book the dock and lift
- We file crew, vehicle and insurance details with security in advance
- We move out of hours and have you working the next morning
What tends to go wrong
Three things we see repeatedly on this kind of job, all of them avoidable with a bit of notice.
Leaving building security until the week of the move
Several City and Westminster buildings want documentation days ahead. Late paperwork means a crew waiting at a desk on billable time, and on an out of hours slot that time cannot be recovered.
Underestimating the paper
Archive and filing weighs far more per cubic metre than furniture. An office that looks like a half day on desks alone can be a full day once the deed boxes are counted.
Not agreeing the IT sequence
If your IT team disconnects after we arrive, everyone waits. Agree what comes down first and what goes back up first before the day, not on it.
We hold goods in transit and public liability insurance, and we are a registered waste carrier for the clearance work. Certificates go to your building management directly where they ask for them. Full detail is on the about page.
Office and Business Moves: common questions
Can you move us over a weekend?
Yes, and for most Central London buildings it is the sensible option. Weekend slots need booking further ahead because there are fewer of them and the building has to agree to open for it. Give us as much notice as you can.
What does building security need from you?
Typically crew names, vehicle registration, and evidence of public liability and goods in transit insurance. Some buildings want a method statement or RAMS as well. We supply whatever is asked for, but some security desks want several working days, so we need the building contact early.
Do you move IT equipment?
Yes. Machines and monitors travel wrapped and boxed rather than loose, and server cabinets go on a proper trolley with contents secured. We do not disconnect or reconnect anything, so your IT team handles that at both ends.
How do you price an office move?
On the volume, the access at both ends and the time window, as one fixed figure rather than a day rate. For anything above about fifteen desks we would rather walk the site first, because quoting a large office from a description is guesswork.
Can you dispose of the old desks and chairs?
Yes, if you book waste clearance alongside. Office furniture from a strip-out goes to a licensed facility and we can provide the transfer documentation. Serviceable furniture we will try to route to reuse rather than disposal.
Will you label everything so we can find it?
Yes. Crates and furniture are labelled by destination room or desk, which is the difference between working the next morning and spending it opening boxes. Give us the new floor plan and we will label to it.
Related services
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- Rubbish and Waste Clearance in Central LondonEnd of tenancy, flat clearances and furniture disposal, carried out and disposed of legally.
- Emergency Van and Man Hire in Central LondonSame day and next day slots for the moves that could not be planned.
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Office moves across Central London
We cover all 37 Central London areas. Each area page has the parking and access detail specific to it.
Get a fixed price for office moves in Central London