Partner Article

Movin? on up

As I’m sure some of you have heard on the grapevine, we are moving offices next week to a custom-built space at Generator Studios (www.generatorstudios.co.uk) In the past 12 months, the lab have seen an increase in staff numbers, from 3 people to 9, which means that we were rapidly outgrowing our current space at Hoults Yard. The decision was made to start looking for alternative space five months ago and finally we are almost at crunch point.I have never had to organise anything like this before and it has been an interesting process to say the least! So I thought it may come in handy to anyone thinking of relocating to read my first hand account of what’s involved (or it may make you decide never to move again)Research local spacesSarat and Mark had already previously considered moving offices, so had already done the leg work towards this – we had a couple of spaces in mind for our relocation, which had been found by various methods – heads up from business contacts, networking events, local business news and social media.Consider your financesBefore we even went out to see these possible spaces we had to sit down and look at costs, as well as moving to provide us with more space, we also wanted to attempt to get the best deal possible, and although we understood it wouldn’t necessarily be cheaper, we still thought it would be good to have an outline of what we were willing to pay. That way you don’t get too carried away.Use your head not your heart – be practicalIt’s important to try to stay practical when looking at potential spaces, it’s easy to get carried away and be sold by all the pretty things, like the view, the position and the facilities. Whilst these are factors worth considering, they may not actually be THAT practical. Get your tape measure out, consider the shape of the room, look at the location in terms of visiting clients and ultimately look at the costs. If it comes down to it, do a list of (sensible) pros and cons.Doing a dealIt’s a pretty good time to move right now with properties vacant and I would urge companies to NOT settle for the first price/deal they get. They can push the boundaries a bit and come off with really great concessions.Persevere and be patientWhen it comes down to dealing with the paperwork side of things, be patient. Allow time and resource to deal directly with solicitors, agents and landlords, one thing I had to learn was that these things don’t happen overnight and they certainly don’t run smoothly. Keep communication regular, make sure you keep on top of paperwork that requires your input and most importantly, persevere and be patient!Make a listYou may have read this on my previous blogs, but I do like a good list. With so much to organise and so many things to remember with our office move, I simply could not resist making a nice long list of things that needed to be done. I can’t even begin to tell you just how much this has helped me throughout this process. Lists are the future. Fact.Keep a close eye on the budgetSet a budget with regards to the cost of moving, this includes everything from removal, to furnishings, to changing utilities. It’s amazing how quickly the cost spirals when it all gets going. Nothing in life is free, but I have spent a lot of time over the last few months making sure that any needs we had I got at the best cost possible.Have a clear outI am a bit of a clean freak at the best of times, but with the impending move, I figured it was time we had a clear out within the office. What I didn’t want was to have to move a lot of stuff to the new office that we really didn’t need, extra cost with no benefit to us. Ebay made us some extra pennies to put towards the move and we made the decision to take some of our existing furniture with us and not buy new things.Keep calm and carry onMy last piece of advice would be to remember that even though you may wonder why you are bothering sometimes, when you are juggling what feels like a million different tasks, that the end result will so be worth it. A new, fresh space for the company to grow into and make their own.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emma Bevis .