Moving offices, like moving homes, is very stressful, with lots of things to consider and do, there is a good chance things will be forgotten about and not done at all.  As with anything else, carefully planning and preparing the office move will help it to go as smoothly as possible.  To help you to organise properly here is a detailed list of all the things you need to do or consider:
Before the move consider the following points:
•    Has the office move been approved by the relevant senior manager?
•    What budget is in place for this move?
•    Who internally, is responsible for the move?
•    What type of property are you looking to move too? (i.e. somewhere bigger, cheaper, better located etc)
•    When do you need to be moved into your new office for?
•    What location is desirable from the new office?
•    Make yourself a timetable.  For example, we want to have found a new office space by month 2, we want to have secured the new office by month 3, we want to have moved into the office by month 5 and fully operational within a week of moving in.  These deadlines will help you to ensure you do not fall behind. Make sure you co-ordinate the leases so that one expires as the other starts and you are not paying for two offices.
•    Breakdown the budget.  What is allocated to rental costs, how much of the budget should be used on removal vans etc.  This will ensure you have a tighter control over the budget meaning you shouldn’t go over it. Things you need to consider include but are not limited to: rent and service charges, deposit for rent, fees for professionals, furniture and office equipment, new office fit-out, removal costs, updating stationary and business cards with new office details.
•    When you are choosing your new office, think about the following:
o    Is the size suitable?  You don’t want a small office that means you cannot hire new staff because you cannot accommodate them, equally, you do not want a massive office that you cannot fill, especially if you are bringing clients to the office.
o    The lease: are the length, the type and the terms and conditions agreeable to you?
o    Is the property in your desired location?
o    Is there any car-parking available?
•    Within your company, set up a moving team, choose one person from every team to represent their team, and hold regular meetings.  This will help you in a number of ways, firstly you can update these representatives and they can then update their teams, meaning communications for you are quicker.  They can organise their department, and everyone within the department, giving the senior managers more time to concentrate on the rest of the decision making process whilst having some control over the staff.
•    When you have chosen a new office, design the layout of the office space.  Allocate a space for each of the teams, a dedicated room for meetings and individual offices for managers.  Remember to put on this design, where you intent to place shared equipment and storage, make sure it is as central to all staff as is possible.
•    Think about telecommunications: how many phone so you need and where? How many fax machines and where? How many internet ports do you need, where do they need to be placed?  Or did you want wireless internet? Consider networking computers and where computers and laptops are going to be used. Also think about which pieces of equipment you will be bringing from your old office, how many need to be replaced, and what you need to buy to go into your new office.
•    Think about furniture, do you need to buy more, replace some?
•    Notify suppliers and clients that you’re going to be moving, and arrange postal re-direction services.