How We Carried Out An Office Relocation...In Just 48 Hours!

In April this year, the team here at Active Workplace Solutions were tasked with performing a 'get out' and 'get in' office relocation job for the 70 staff of Nationwide Hire – within a window of 48 hours.

The reason behind the quick turnaround was due to Nationwide Hire being a brokerage firm to the construction industry; their employees need to be readily available for customers, so downtime isn't an option. With a limited timeframe, work was pencilled in from 6 pm on Friday, as phone lines would be taken down and scheduled to be back up by the early hours of Monday morning.

Here's how we did it.

Who Are Nationwide Hire? Why Were They Seeking An Office Relocation?

Nationwide Hire are one of the UK's leading providers of total managed hire services, keeping businesses moving by taking responsibility for solving (and avoiding) plant, equipment and service problems.

They have a network of thousands of suppliers accessing millions of products – Nationwide Hire turn frustrated operational buyers into happy customers. Their motto is 'whatever the challenge, we get in sorted'. Incidentally, this is a philosophy is something that is shared by our own company; since our formation 20 years ago we have helped to improve the standing of firms by interioring, building,furnishing, moving, managing and maintaining their ideal workspaces – becoming one of the most trusted companies in the UK office interiors market.

Having outgrown their headquarters, Nationwide Hire were seeking to move its entire operation (including the 70-strong workforce) to new premises in Fareham, Hampshire. The only obstacle was that to keep disruption to an absolute minimum, they needed to move over the course of a weekend.

Aside from the compact timeframe, Nationwide Hire wanted to ensure that the move was as 'green' as possible. The company like to provid etheir customers with cost-effective and environmentally sustainable waste programmes, avoiding creating landfill wherever possible. So to honour its own commitment, it was important for the company that the relocation avoided any unnecessary waste and made the most of any used items from the previous workplace.

Thanks to a pre-existing relationship and vaste experience of performing such projects, trust was one of the main reasonswhy Nationwide Hire chose Active Workplace Solutions to perform the office relocation for them. Let's get to work.

How We Approached The Office Fit Out Project

After being appointed to manage the entire office move, it later became apparent that Nationwide Hire required additional support in sourcing new furniture for the new space. With no previous experience in this area, the company understandably found getting up to speed with the finities some what difficult to fit into their already-tight schedule – they didn't have the time to traverse around warehouses and showrooms to identify an appropriate selection of second-hand office furniture. So, using our own experience inprocuring office furniture, we gladly stepped into the breach.

Some weeks before the move was due to be made, we sourced all the furniture Nationwide Hire needed – accounting for 36 bench desks (including 3 sit-stand,pedestals, 4 meeting tables, touchdown table with bench seats, 8 flip-top meeting tables, 97 task chairs, 2 door cupboards and 9 banks of lockers – all found within 10 days). All of the furniture was delivered and installed in the new premises a week before the move, saving Nationwide Hire around £25,000 on purchasing the same items brand-new.

Delivering The Workplace Relocation

As soon as the phone lines were closed at 6 pm on the Friday, work began. As we had already procured the furniture and had organised everything to a tee, the office relocation was virtually completed by Saturday afternoon – Sunday was given over to recommission the firm's IT infrastructure.

For this, we provided a server engineer to decommission Nationwide Hire's existing IT infrastructure, remove patching and switches at the loading address, and then to recommission all of the contents of their communications room at the new office. The desktop IT was similarly decommissioned, packed, moved, unpacked and reinstalled. Existing desks had to be taken apart, reconfigured and rebuilt with monitor arms – the server room was also relocated, along with all other contents of the workplace.

New Office Fit Out: Open For Business

We are pleased to say that Monday morning saw the employees of Nationwide Hire immediately settle into their new office, picking up from precisely where they left off from the Friday – except they now existed in a better-defined, more comfortable space to aid them in their work.

In the weeks following the office relocation, the employees found that the new workplace improved engagement,morale, and their health and wellbeing. That's not all – although it wasn't included in the original brief, we advised an appropriate layout that allowed the company to make the most of the floor space its teams had. As a result, this new workplace design enables collaboration across teams, creating a stronger sense of community and social cohesion – all hallmarks of a great place to work.

If you're interested in learning more about relocating an office, the dedicated office fitters here at Active would be pleased to speak with you.

Get In Touch With Our Expert Office Fitters Today

With over two decades of experience working in the office interiors industry, our team of office relocation experts have worked with a diverse range of industries –providing them with the knowledge and skills to deliver the ideal office fit out for any type of firm.

So, no matter your particular requirements, our team are on hand to assist you – give them a call on 0845 130 9066. Alternatively, you can send any enquiries via e-mail to info@activeworkplacesolutions.co.uk and we'll be in touch as soon as possible.