The New Office Is an IT Project: A Ninety-Day Relocation Runbook for UK Operations Leads

Office relocations are usually run as a facilities project with IT invited late. That order is backwards. By the time the removal firm is booked, the connectivity order, landlord consents, device logistics and data erasure plan should already be in train. In 2026, a 90-day runway is not generous; for many UK leased-line orders it is the minimum sensible planning horizon.

Treat the move as an IT programme with a countdown, not a series of tasks that arrive by email. The operations lead does not need to become a network engineer, but they do need one accountable IT move lead, a single plan and a habit of testing assumptions with the landlord, the connectivity provider and the business before money is committed.

T-90 to T-69: mobilise the move as an IT programme

Appoint one IT move lead with authority to make decisions across facilities, HR, finance and the managed service provider. Build a single asset register covering laptops, monitors, docks, printers, meeting-room kit, comms-room equipment and any on-premises servers. Record serial numbers, owners, warranty status and whether each item is moving, being replaced or being retired.

Read the lease and the break clauses early. In the UK, landlord access rules, wayleaves, shared risers and consent for alterations can sit outside your control and outside your timetable. Listed buildings and multi-tenant buildings often need surveys before cabling can be approved. Ask who controls the comms room, what notice is required for out-of-hours access, and whether the incoming tenant has any claim on existing fibre.

Do not assume the previous occupier's connectivity can be taken over. Even where it can, the handover date may not match your lease start. Put a named person on landlord liaison and keep a written record of every access permission.

T-60 to T-39: order connectivity and protect the numbers

Connectivity is the longest-lead item in most UK moves. A leased line can take 60 to 90 working days, and that is before any excess construction charges or building-access delays are resolved. FTTP may be quicker, but it is not guaranteed at every commercial address. Order early, book the survey, confirm the landlord will admit engineers, and identify an interim option such as 5G or a temporary circuit if the primary service slips.

Protect telephone numbers and ports. If you are porting numbers, keep the old service live through an overlap period and confirm who owns the request. Check static IP addresses, DNS records, firewall rules and any WAN links between sites. A move is a good time to remove unused circuits, but only after the new service is proven.

Address changes are not administrative dust. Update software suppliers, support contracts, insurers, payroll providers, banks and any service that validates your registered address. Check billing addresses for SaaS licences, because a missed change can affect invoices, support entitlement and, in some cases, data residency terms.

T-30 to T-15: design the workplace technology, not just the desks

Commission a Wi-Fi survey for the new floor plan before the furniture layout is fixed. Confirm cabling routes, comms-room power, UPS capacity, cooling and access control. Meeting-room technology should be specified against how rooms will actually be used: huddle spaces, hybrid calls, whiteboarding and visitor presentations. Avoid buying screens and cameras before the room booking system, network drops and support model are agreed.

Printer fleets deserve a hard look. A move is the moment to rationalise rather than relocate every device. Count pages, identify department printers that duplicate a multifunction device, and decide whether managed print or secure print is the better fit. At the old site, printer decommissioning must include purging print queues, removing embedded credentials, collecting logs where required and wiping storage.

For devices, agree packing standards, insurance, asset tagging and a loan pool for the first week. Label every box by destination room, not by owner, and keep a small kit of cables, docks and adapters that always travels with the IT team.

T-14 to T-0: rehearse, cut over and hand back

Write a cutover plan with timings, owners and a rollback position. Schedule the main move out of hours, but test the new site in hours before staff arrive. Test wired and wireless connectivity, printing, meeting-room join, access control, telephony and the line-of-business applications that matter most. Brief floor walkers and publish a simple route for staff to report problems.

At the old site, do not leave data erasure to the removals contractor unless the contract explicitly names it. Use a certified erasure process for devices and storage media, keep chain-of-custody records, and dispose of redundant equipment through a WEEE-compliant route. Return keys, passes and landlord equipment, and confirm the date the old connectivity will cease.

The UK-specific traps to write into the plan

Broadband lead times, landlord access, wayleaves, service charges and listed-building consents are the usual culprits. Number porting and address changes are close behind. Data erasure is the one that turns a tidy move into a compliance incident if it is left to the last afternoon.

A checklist you can use this week

1. Name the IT move lead and the landlord liaison.
2. Pull the asset register and mark every item as move, replace or retire.
3. Read the lease break, access and alteration clauses.
4. Book the connectivity survey and confirm landlord access.
5. List telephone numbers, ports, circuits and static IPs.
6. Audit printers and meeting-room devices for data-bearing storage.
7. Book certified erasure and WEEE disposal.
8. Draft the cutover and rollback plan.
9. Notify suppliers of the address change.
10. Schedule old-site decommissioning and hand-back.
11. Set a T+30 snagging review.
12. Confirm who signs off the old site as empty, erased and returned.

The move is not finished when the boxes are unpacked. It is finished when the old site is empty, the data is erased and the landlord has signed it back.