Reasons to Plan an Office Move
Welcome to part 2 of our series on how to prepare for an office move. In part 1 we looked at the typical office move timeline, if you haven’t read that yet, go check it out! This time we’re looking at reasons you might want to plan an office move.
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There are, of course, many reasons you might consider moving office. Firstly there are what we’ll call ‘the obvious reasons’, here they are:
1. Your lease is expiring
If the lease on your current office is expiring, you have two options: negotiate new terms to stay or find a new office and move. Sometimes extending your lease isn’t an option, possibly because renewal terms aren’t favourable or because your landlord requires the space back. If your hand is forced, you’ll need to start hunting for new premises.
2. You’ve grown too big
A business that is in growth will often need to hire new staff. New staff will come with new equipment and requirements for space. Working space will need to be balanced with breakout space and facilities.
The Health and Safety Executive website summarises workspace requirements like this; “Workrooms should have enough free space to allow people to get to and from workstations and to move within the room, with ease. The number of people who may work in any particular room at any one time will depend not only on the size of the room, but on the space taken up by furniture, fittings, equipment, and the layout of the room. Workrooms, except those where people only work for short periods, should be of sufficient height (from floor to ceiling) over most of the room to enable safe access to workstations.”
In short, if your business has grown too big for the office you currently occupy, you’ll need to move.
3. You’ve consolidated
In contrast to the point above, sometimes your business will have changed direction and as a result, will require less space for staff and equipment. In cases such as this, your current office may leave you with more space than you require. When this happens, you’ll probably be paying money for space you don’t need or use. If this is happening, you should consider finding somewhere more suitable.
That’s the obvious reasons to move, but there are some other things to consider:
4. You need a better location
In the days of cloud computing, remote working and collaborative technology, location is considered less critical to business operations. That said, if your business needs to work with customers concentrated in a particular part of the country there’s a real benefit in basing your operation nearby. Face to face meetings will be easier.
Location isn’t only about being close to your customers, it’s also about making things easy for your staff. Your current location may be ‘in the middle of nowhere’ or it may be in the centre of an increasingly congested city. In either case, getting to and from the office could be a challenge.
Location factors should be a big consideration for happy clients and staff, if your current location is less than perfect, it might be time to consider a move.
5. Your current office is tired
Another reason to move; your current office is tired, in the need of TLC and fails to inspire the team that works within. Sometimes an office might be perfect in terms of space, size and location, but if the owner has failed to keep it in a good state of repair, it can soon become a tired-looking space. If this describes your current office, it might be time to consider a fresh start in a new office more suited to the mood and culture of your team.
Up next
Next week we’ll be continuing our series by looking at the costs involved with moving office and how to plan your budget accordingly.
Contact us today to find out more.