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Highlights
Plan your office move with confidence! Our complete guide covers timelines, trends, budgeting, IT setup, and connectivity tips to ensure a smooth, stress-free relocation for your business.
Moving office is a big deal for any business. That’s why knowing what you need to consider is vital in ensuring it goes smoothly and successfully.
So, whether you're upsizing, relocating to a more convenient spot, or upgrading to a more modern environment to encourage people back to the office, it's a moment that requires careful planning.
So, we’ve put together this guide to help you stay on top of everything – from planning and budgeting to keeping your team connected and productive from day one.
Why read this guide?
Even if you've planned an office move before, the London commercial property market is ever evolving. For instance, the demand for flexible workspaces has surged, with a 14% year-over-year increase in inquiries for flexible office spaces in the first half of 2024. Understanding these trends can help you make informed decisions that align with your business objectives.
Vorboss has been involved in hundreds of office moves, helping businesses sidestep connectivity delays and operational headaches. We know what works, and we’re here to help you make informed decisions for a stress-free move.
London's office relocation landscape
London’s office market has proven to be incredibly resilient. In 2024, the Central London office leasing market recorded a total take-up of 9.68 million sq ft – a 1% increase from the previous year. A key driver? Businesses seeking high-quality, flexible spaces that fit their evolving working models.
The demand for flexible workspaces is particularly strong, with occupancy rates climbing to 83% on average in early 2024 – and as high as 88% in key areas like Southwark and the City. If you’re considering a flexible lease, getting ahead of the curve is essential.
Things to consider when moving office
Planning an office move isn’t just a logistical challenge, it’s a strategic initiative that can significantly impact your business. Here are some of the reasons why planning an office move with real care is essential.
Ensuring a smooth process
A well-planned move means fewer headaches, from packing up years of accumulated ‘stuff’, to setting up your new space. Breaking it into clear stages with assigned responsibilities ensures everything runs on time and on budget.
Avoiding unecessary costs
Office relocations can get expensive. A detailed budget from the outset that includes all anticipated expenses - moving services, IT setup, rent, service charges, utilities and office redesign - reduces the risk of overspending.
Meeting lease obligations & avoiding legal issues
Moving out isn’t just about handing back the keys - you must meet your landlord’s requirements, including cleaning, repairs, and restoring the space. Be mindful of hidden costs such as dilapidation clauses, which may require restoring the space to its original condition upon lease termination. Factor this in early to avoid surprises.
Negotiating lease flexibility
In an evolving market, flexible lease terms can provide the agility to adapt to changing business needs. Consider options that allow for scalability or early termination without significant penalties.
Minimising downtime
Business continuity is critical, and even a day of disruption can impact your bottom line. A well-thought-out plan ensures your operations continue with minimal interruptions. For example, respecifying and pre-installing IT and connectivity in your new office allows your team to hit the ground running on day one.
Collaborating effectively with stakeholders
Moving office involves input from multiple stakeholders; colleagues, service providers, and landlords. Open communication and regular updates ensure everyone is on the same page, reducing the likelihood of misunderstandings or last-minute surprises.
Creating a positive experience for your team
A well-planned office move shows your commitment to employee comfort and productivity.
Proper planning for your office relocation is about more than logistics; it’s about safeguarding your operations and setting the stage for growth. By taking a strategic approach, you can turn the challenge of moving into an opportunity to enhance your business.
How to prepare for moving office
Successful moves hinge on clear communication, precise planning, and a proactive approach to problem-solving. Here’s how to prepare for an office move with ease:
Set your timeline
When you’re planning an office move, determine your moving date and work backwards from there to create a detailed schedule of tasks. Ensure you allow sufficient time for preparation, including securing service providers, notifying stakeholders, and completing physical packing.
Assess your space requirements
Evaluate your current and future needs, considering team size, growth projections, and the nature of your operations.
Put together a ‘moving team’
Assign specific responsibilities to a dedicated team of your own people or hire a professional relocation company. Allocating clear roles ensures accountability and streamlines decision-making.
Audit your current space
Conduct a thorough assessment of your existing office. Sort through equipment, furniture, and files – decide what to move, sell of recycle.
Plan your new layout
Work with a space designer or team member to develop the floor plan for the new office. Think about workflow optimisation, employee comfort, and what you might need in the future to deal with expansion. Oh! And don’t forget essential areas like meeting rooms, breakout spaces, and places to accommodate IT infrastructure.
Prioritise IT & connectivity
This is where we see the biggest mistakes! Vorboss has helped numerous companies recover from underestimating connectivity lead times. Start early to ensure your new office has the right internet speed, bandwidth, and security from day one. But, if you have left it a bit late, we do have a Rapid Install service, which you can find here.
Give everyone warning
Tell all your clients, suppliers, and service providers that you are moving office ahead of time. Provide them with clear timelines and your new address to avoid interruptions. Update your website and social media with the new address.
Schedule utilities and services
Confirm the installation of all the key utilities such as electricity, water, and internet well before moving day. Choose suppliers that you can trust, and understand your office move requirements – there's often more choice than you think.
A timeline of everything you need to think about when moving office
Knowing how to timeline an office move can be daunting, but by anticipating potential challenges and allowing room for unexpected setbacks, you’ll ensure a smoother transition.
To help with this, we’ve blocked out a typical move timeline:
6-12 months before the move
Define your needs
Identify the reasons for the move and create a list of must-haves for the new space. Think about size, future growth, location, and required facilities to ensure the new office will meet your business needs.
Secure your new location
The demand for flexible office space in London has increased, with occupancy reaching 83% on average. If you’re considering a flexible lease, start early to secure the best options.
Establish a budget
Develop a comprehensive budget for the office relocation. Include contingency funds to cover unexpected expenses.
3-6 months before the move
Get your suppliers sorted
Surround yourself with pros. Hire professional movers, fit-out companies (if needed), and IT specialists to ensure your relocation goes smoothly. Book them in early to avoid last-minute scrambling.
Plan your connectivity
Work closely with a good business internet provider to ensure seamless service. This step is critical for maintaining business continuity and productivity from day one.
Notify your team
Keep everyone in your company informed about the move and provide them with regular updates. Share a timeline and what to expect during the transition.
1-3 months before the move
Begin packing
If doing it yourself, organise your packing process systematically. Label boxes clearly with their contents and their destination within the new space.
Update addresses
Notify your clients, suppliers, and service providers of your change of address. Prepare to update your business listings, website, and marketing materials.
Test IT systems
Arrange for your IT and connectivity systems to be tested rigorously before moving across. This way, you can be sure that critical services such as the internet and phones are operational before your team arrives. Any good connectivity supplier should offer to connect your office ahead of your move-in date to ensure a smooth transition, wavering the cost of any cross-over to avoid being double-charged.
Moving day
Oversee the process
Assign a trusted team member (even if that is yourself) to supervise the move. Choose someone who can handle unexpected issues and ensure that everything arrives at, is installed into, and functions properly in the new location as planned.
Prioritise essential systems
Prioritise real-world troubleshooting of IT infrastructure, connectivity, and other essential services on the day. This guarantees that your team will be able to resume work efficiently, no matter what.
Post-move
Do a walkthrough
However thoroughly you planned your office move, once you are in you need to inspect the new space carefully to ensure everything is in order. Check for damage, missing items, and other issues that need immediate attention.
Celebrate with your team
Planning an office move and continuing to function as a business while the relocation is underway, are great achievements. So, be sure to acknowledge the hard work all round that’s gone into the move and celebrate - you’ve earned it!
By following this timeline, you’ll have the basis for your own step-by-step approach to managing and planning your office move efficiently. Working through these stages will enable you to reduce stress (both for yourself and your colleagues) and set the business up for a flying start in its new home.
What to look for in a business internet supplier when moving office
Moving office is stressful enough without getting stuck in a bad internet contract. Unfortunately, we speak to too many businesses who only realise the fine print has tripped them up when it’s too late. Before you sign anything, here are five things to check:
Mid-contract price increases
Some providers sneak in clauses that let them hike your prices during your contract. That means you could sign up at one price and end up paying much more down the line. If your business needs cost certainty (who’s doesn’t?), ensure you’re locked into a fair price for the whole term.
Auto-renewals
Not all contracts end when you expect them to. Some providers auto-renew you into another long-term deal without much warning, making it hard to leave when you need to. Check the small print and set a reminder well before your contract is up.
Service guarantees vs. empty promises
Your provider might say you’ll get ‘up to’ a certain speed, but is that guaranteed or just a target? If a stable connection is critical for your business, look for providers that commit to actual performance, not just marketing buzzwords. If you’re buying a broadband grade service, your speeds are almost definitely not guaranteed so make sure your connection is dedicated to your business, find out more about that here.
Compensation without the hassle
If your internet goes down, will your provider compensate you automatically, or will you have to fight for it? Some suppliers make you jump through hoops to claim what you’re owed, knowing most businesses won’t have the time. A good provider makes things right without the headache.
Do they own their network?
Moving office comes with enough deadlines - your internet install shouldn’t be another thing keeping you up at night. Check if your provider owns and controls its own network or if they’re relying on third-party contractors for installation. If they don’t have full control, delays can stack up, leaving you without internet when you need it most.
Bottom line? Don’t just sign what’s put in front of you. Ask questions, push for clarity, and make sure your internet service works for your business - not the other way around.
2025 Commercial real estate trends to think about
An increased demand for sustainable, premium offices
Market consolidations
Hybrid working
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How Vorboss can make switching internet as easy as possible when moving office
Moving office gives you the ideal opportunity to reconsider your connectivity needs - especially if part of your move is to support company expansion. While switching internet service provider (ISP) during an office relocation might seem like a daunting task, we have a whole host of solutions to help support your move – even if you’re on a tight deadline:
Expert support every step of the way
Vorboss provides dedicated support throughout the relocation process, from initial planning and infrastructure assessment to post-move optimisation. Your dedicated, London-based account manager will help you address any challenges and ensure your internet service aligns perfectly with your business requirements.
The Rapid Install advantage
Vorboss’s Rapid Install service is a game-changer if you’re looking to minimise downtime as you prepare for an office move. We designed this service to provide high-speed internet installation on a tight timeline, so you can be certain your new office will be fully operational from the moment your team walks through the door. Unlike others, we’ll work to your timeline.
Dedicated fibre connectivity
So, you’ll never have to worry about connectivity again. Unlike broadband, which is split among multiple users, Vorboss provides each business with its own fibre line. We built the network from the ground up with our own teams, which means we can ensure the quality and reliability of your connectivity.
Switching internet services doesn’t have to be a headache. Get access to tailored connectivity solutions, expert support, and industry-leading reliability. Let’s chat!
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Business broadband vs leased line: the key differences?
Expert conclusion: The label ‘business broadband’ doesn’t really mean anything – the term covers a wide range of services, each with very different experiences. Get into the details, and save yourself a lot of frustration and disappointment.
Broadband vs leased line explained
- Broadband: A standard, shared internet connection typically designed for home use, but sometimes used in small offices. Speeds can vary, especially during busy times, and upload speeds are often much lower than downloads – which can limit performance for modern business applications.
- Leased line: A private, dedicated connection between your premises and your provider. Symmetrical speeds, guaranteed performance, and no sharing with neighbours - specifically designed to meet the demands of modern business connectivity.
What is business broadband?
Most of the time, it’s just the same product as the ISP (Internet Service Provider) sells to their residential customers, but more expensive and probably bundled with a low-level cyber security product.
It has a dedicated web page, with stock photos of people doing business. And it comes with some comforting words to tell you that they know how hard business is. Excruciating.
Your traffic isn’t prioritised. Your connection isn’t dedicated. And if you have an ‘account manager’, they’re probably responsible for literally thousands of customers like you.
If you pay more, you might get a commitment to investigate faults within a given time – usually within a day.
When you’re looking for business broadband, bear these things in mind. Look at the details to see if you’re simply being sold a standard home broadband package disguised as a business solution.
What does great internet connectivity for business look like?
It’s very easy to call something business broadband. But it’s a very different thing to provide internet connectivity that’s genuinely fast and reliable enough for London business in 2025.
One of the fundamental features of an internet product for business is a dedicated connection.
‘Broadband’ or ‘FTTP’ (that’s Fibre to the Premise) means that the service you’re paying for is shared between you and typically 30 of your neighbours – whether they’re houses or other businesses.
So when you have a broadband or FTTP connection, don’t expect to get the Gbps speeds you’ve paid for at busy times (which is most of the working day). It’s cheap, and it connects. But it’s not a product that you can rely on to keep your business running.
At the busiest times, you'll have to hope that it’ll give you what you need. That might mean putting up with a poor-quality video call, a painful wait downloading a PowerPoint, or an eternity for every employee to log in to Teams at 9am.
Internet connectivity that you and your business can rely on is going to be dedicated to you, and that means taking a leased line (also knows as DIA, or direct internet access).
What is the difference between business broadband and business leased line or ‘dedicated’ internet (DIA)?
One word: reliability.
That’s the key difference between the experience of these two technologies: how much you can rely on your connection, and how that impacts your business. We see it in every customer interaction as they move from broadband to direct internet – the shackles are off.
While business broadband infrastructure is shared with the businesses and houses around you, leased line (or direct internet) infrastructure is dedicated to you – it isn’t shared with anyone.
It’s your connection, and every bit of the bandwidth you’re paying for is yours. It’s guaranteed. Always giving you the internet speed and capacity you need, no matter how busy things get.
The whole Manchester office coming down for a team day? No problem. Sending a broadcast-quality video file to a client on a deadline? Easy. Worrying about signing up to a new cloud-based software for project management? Don’t. Putting the CEO on a video call that has to be perfect? Do it.
A 10Gbps leased line ensures you always have the speed you need. It’s a service you and your business can rely on.
What are the key features of business leased line and business broadband?
Leased line:
• Dedicated to one customer – a dedicated, private cable between your office and your provider's data centre
• Symmetrical – you get the same upload speed as download speed
• Highly reliable
Broadband:
• Shared circuit by up to 32 users
• Usually asymmetrical – upload typically much slower than download
• Prone to performance issues, particularly during the working day
The technology explained
We’ve covered the difference in experience, but what’s the technology difference?
A ‘leased line’ is a dedicated fibre connection between your office space and your provider’s spot in a data centre (often called a Point of Presence, or PoP). This is where your connection reaches the internet or cloud.
Your proximity to the provider’s data centre is important for latency – which is the speed at which things happen online. It’s not to be confused with upload and download speed, which is how long content takes to get to/from you. It’s more like how quickly the order you give is obeyed.
Two more important features of a leased line network are how many data centres your provider connects to, and how many diverse routes they have between you and those centres.
More than one data centre, and numerous routes equals resilience. And resilience is vital in business internet connections. If one route gets blocked, your data has alternative routes so there's no disruption.
Leased lines use fibre, but they’re not like residential broadband as the fibre line isn’t shared. You’ll often read about leased lines being called Ethernet, but the main terms to look out for are Leased line or Direct Internet Access (DIA).
A broadband connection is typically PON-based – that’s passive optical network, and relates to the way in which ‘splitters’ are used to connect multiple customers to the same fibre. It’s a revolutionary technology when it comes to delivering fibre to multiple homes, where super low cost is the main driver. But for business, it’s ‘best effort’, at best.
It’s cheap to deliver, and so it’s relatively cheap to buy. But it comes with the reality that you cannot rely on it. If the other homes or businesses on your fibre are using the network, then you’ll suffer.
What are the benefits of a leased line?
A dedicated connection means guaranteed bandwidth
With a leased line, you get every bit you pay for, unlike a shared ‘broadband’ connection, where you can pay for 1Gbps but it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever see that speed.
A connection you can rely on
Always the speed you’ve paid for and infrastructure that’s backed up by an SLA (Service Level Agreement) – and automatic compensation if you choose a really good ISP. And the ability to order a back-up line, to increase the resilience of your service.
Lower latency
The more direct architecture and quicker route to a data centre (where your connection hits the internet) means a leased line will almost always offer lower latency than a broadband connection.
Upload that matches download
Most broadband, FTTP and cable services advertise the download speed but keep quiet on upload – that’s because upload is significantly slower in these services, often as little as a tenth of the speed. Leased lines have ‘symmetrical’ download and upload.
Enhanced security
Security can never be taken for granted, so check on the Infosec and compliance qualifications of your provider – typically, those selling residential-grade services won’t invest in this area, but serious business providers recognise the huge benefit to their customers.
A feature comparison
Breach breakdown
In April 2025, Marks & Spencer (M&S) was hit by a serious cyberattack, and not by amateurs. The group behind it, known as Scattered Spider (also known as UNC3944 or Octo Tempest) has a track record. They’ve already taken on major U.S. giants like Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts.
Our 40Fi DFND team has done a deep dive into what happened and, more importantly, how businesses like yours can stay protected.
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Join our free workshop with the City of London Police. Register now.
How they got in
Scattered Spider used smart, targeted phishing emails and impersonated IT staff to trick people into handing over their credentials. They even used a tactic called "MFA fatigue", which consisted of spamming employees with repeated login requests until one was mistakenly approved.
Threat intelligence researcher, Lontz reported on suspected Scattered Spider infrastructure (see figure 2), involving fake domains designed to mimic legitimate login pages of well-known websites. A spoofed company login page could have been created to get access to M&S employee login details.
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What happened after they got in
Initial access to M&S systems is believed to have been as early as February. Once in, the attackers used stolen administrative credentials to deploy legitimate remote administration tools (RATs). This gave them ongoing control over key systems (including employee devices), helping them stay hidden while moving through the network.
Here's what they did:
- Installed remote desktop access tools like AnyDesk and TeamViewer - the same kind real IT teams would use
- Moved around through different M&S’s internal systems to grab as much data as possible
- Targeted critical assets like password databases and user credentials
Finally, they created secret access points, hidden accounts, and scheduled tasks to make sure they could stay inside the company's network without getting noticed.
The attack
On April 24, Scattered Spider launched the DragonForce ransomware attack on M&S’ VMware ESXi servers, encrypting virtual machines that powered key systems for e-commerce, payment processing, and logistics (see figure 3).
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As a result, M&S had no choice but to shut down key systems entirely (including online orders and contactless payments), and call in top cybersecurity experts from CrowdStrike, Microsoft, and Fenix24 to contain the damage and start the recovery process (see figure 4).
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What this means for you
While M&S is a major player, the tactics used in this breach aren’t just for corporations, they work just as well against small businesses. Groups like Scattered Spider rely on common tools and stolen identities to gain trust and slip past normal security. The key lesson? Always verify the people and systems you rely on, whether they’re inside your team or external partners.
What you can do to improve cybersecurity for your business
5 quick wins to protect your business
- Train your team – teach employees to spot dodgy emails, spoofed links, and sketchy login pages.
- Use strong passwords – create long, complex passwords that include a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Never reuse passwords across different accounts.
- Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) – this adds an extra layer of security beyond just a password.
- Stay vigilent – do not open email attachments or click on links unless you are certain of their legitimacy. If you have any doubts, report the email to your security team immediately.
- Report suspicious activity fast – if you receive unexpected MFA prompts, suspicious login alerts, or calls requesting your credentials, report them to your security team as soon as possible.
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