How to Brief Your IT Provider for an Office Move

Moving office is one of the most complex undertakings any business can face. There are leases to negotiate, fit-outs to manage, furniture to order, and staff to keep informed. But among all of these competing priorities, the IT component of an office move is arguably the most critical — and the most frequently underestimated. A poorly managed IT relocation can result in days of downtime, lost data, broken systems, and frustrated employees who cannot do their jobs.

The key to a smooth IT relocation is giving your IT provider a thorough, well-structured brief as early as possible. The better the brief, the better the outcome. Yet many businesses struggle with this step, either because they do not know what information their IT provider needs or because they leave the IT conversation too late in the planning process.

This guide walks you through exactly how to brief your IT provider for an office move, covering every piece of information they need, the timeline they should be working to, and the common pitfalls that catch businesses out.

Why the IT Brief Matters So Much

Your IT provider cannot plan effectively without detailed information. They need to understand not just where you are moving to, but how the new space will be used, what your connectivity requirements are, what infrastructure exists at the new site, and what your expectations are for the move itself — including acceptable downtime, weekend working, and post-move support.

A comprehensive brief enables your IT provider to conduct a proper site survey, identify potential problems before they become emergencies, order equipment and connectivity with adequate lead times, plan the migration sequence, and allocate the right engineering resources on move day. Without this information, they are forced to react rather than plan, and reactive IT relocations almost always cost more and cause more disruption.

Essential Information Your IT Provider Needs

A good IT brief covers every aspect of the move that has a technology dimension. Below is a comprehensive list of the information you should provide, organised by category.

The New Premises

Your IT provider needs to understand the physical characteristics of your new office. Provide them with detailed floor plans showing desk positions, meeting rooms, server or comms room locations, and any specialist areas such as call centres, trading floors, or design studios. They need to know the total floor area, the number of floors, and the physical layout including walls, columns, and ceiling types — all of which affect cabling routes and wireless coverage.

If the building is listed or has restrictions on drilling, cabling routes, or external equipment, your IT provider needs to know this upfront. Many offices in London, Edinburgh, and other UK cities occupy listed or heritage buildings where standard installation methods cannot be used.

Connectivity Requirements

Internet connectivity is the single most important infrastructure element, and it often has the longest lead time. Your IT provider needs to know your current bandwidth usage, your expected growth, and any specific requirements such as dedicated leased lines, business-grade fibre, or multiple connections for resilience. They will need the full address of the new premises to run availability checks with providers such as BT Openreach, Virgin Media Business, and other carriers.

If your business relies on voice over IP (VoIP) telephony, video conferencing, cloud applications, or real-time data processing, your bandwidth requirements will be higher, and your IT provider may recommend a dedicated connection with guaranteed service levels rather than a standard business broadband package.

Current IT Environment

Your IT provider needs a complete picture of your current technology setup. If they are your existing managed IT provider, they should already have much of this information, but it is worth confirming that their records are up to date. If you are working with a new provider, they will need a full asset inventory including all servers, workstations, laptops, printers, network equipment, and peripherals.

They also need to know about your software environment, including any on-premise applications, cloud services, line-of-business software, and any specialist equipment such as design workstations, laboratory equipment, or manufacturing systems that connect to the network. Special attention should be given to any equipment that cannot be easily moved or that requires specialist handling.

Move Day Requirements

Be clear about your expectations for move day itself. What is your acceptable downtime? Some businesses can afford to shut down over a weekend and resume operations on Monday morning. Others — such as financial services firms, healthcare providers, or e-commerce businesses — may need near-zero downtime, which requires a different approach entirely.

Discuss whether the move will happen in a single phase or whether you plan to move teams gradually over several days or weeks. A phased move is more complex from an IT perspective because it requires running systems in parallel across two sites, but it significantly reduces the risk of a total outage affecting your entire business.

The IT Office Move Timeline

A well-managed IT office move follows a structured timeline. While every move is different, the following phases apply to most relocations and give you a framework for planning with your IT provider.

Six Months Before: Initial Brief and Site Survey

Brief your IT provider with all available information and arrange for them to conduct a site survey at the new premises. During the survey, they will assess the building's existing IT infrastructure, identify cabling routes, check power availability in the proposed comms room, test mobile signal strength, and note any physical constraints that might affect the installation. They will also begin the process of ordering internet connectivity.

Four Months Before: Design and Procurement

Based on the site survey, your IT provider produces a detailed design for the new office network, including cabling layouts, network equipment specifications, Wi-Fi access point positions, and server room configuration. Once you approve the design and budget, they begin procuring equipment and scheduling cabling contractors. This is also the time to order any new hardware — desktops, laptops, monitors, or printers — that will be deployed at the new site.

Two Months Before: Infrastructure Installation

Cabling contractors install structured cabling throughout the new office, including data points at each desk, cabling to Wi-Fi access points, and runs to the comms room. Network switches, firewalls, and wireless access points are installed and configured. The comms room is fitted with racks, power distribution, and cooling if required. Internet connectivity is tested and verified.

Two Weeks Before: Pre-Move Testing

Your IT provider conducts comprehensive testing of all systems at the new site. Every network point is tested, Wi-Fi coverage is verified in all areas, internet connectivity is confirmed at the expected speeds, VoIP phone systems are tested, and any on-premise servers that have been pre-positioned are verified as operational. This testing phase is critical because it identifies problems while there is still time to fix them.

Move Weekend: Migration

The actual move happens, typically over a weekend to minimise business disruption. IT engineers are on site to disconnect, transport, and reconnect all equipment. Servers are carefully shut down, moved, and brought back online in the correct sequence. Workstations are set up at assigned desks, printers are connected, and phone systems are activated. A full systems check is conducted before staff arrive on Monday morning.

Budgeting for the IT Component

The cost of an IT office move varies enormously depending on the size of the business, the complexity of the technology environment, and the state of the new premises. However, there are common cost categories that every business should plan for when briefing their IT provider.

Internet connectivity installation and activation fees typically range from £500 to £5,000 depending on the type of connection ordered. Structured cabling costs vary by the number of data points required but typically fall between £80 and £150 per point installed — a 50-desk office needing dual points per desk could therefore cost £8,000 to £15,000 for cabling alone. Network equipment — switches, firewalls, wireless access points, and patch panels — can range from £2,000 for a small office to £20,000 or more for a multi-floor environment with high-availability requirements.

Engineering labour for disconnection, transportation, reconnection, and testing is usually the largest single cost category. Budget for a team of engineers working a full weekend for the actual move, plus additional days for pre-move infrastructure work and post-move support. Your IT provider should supply a detailed, itemised quote that covers every aspect of the project so there are no budget surprises after the work has begun.

Do not forget the ongoing costs at the new site. Your new internet connection may carry a different monthly charge than your old one. Additional wireless access points or network switches will require annual support and maintenance contracts. If you are upgrading equipment as part of the move — which is often sensible, since the infrastructure is being replaced anyway — factor in the capital cost of new hardware plus any associated software licences or subscriptions.

Common IT Office Move Pitfalls

Having managed hundreds of office relocations for businesses across the UK, from small professional services firms in Bristol to larger corporate operations in Canary Wharf, certain pitfalls come up repeatedly. Understanding them in advance helps you avoid becoming another cautionary tale.

The most common pitfall is leaving the IT conversation too late. By the time many businesses brief their IT provider, the move date is only weeks away and critical lead-time items like internet connectivity cannot be delivered on schedule. The result is either a delayed move or a temporary, expensive 4G or satellite stopgap solution that nobody is happy with and that may not provide adequate bandwidth for normal operations.

Another frequent mistake is assuming the new building already has adequate IT infrastructure. Many businesses sign a lease without checking whether the building has sufficient power distribution in the proposed comms room, adequate cable containment routes between floors, or even a dedicated space suitable for housing network equipment. A thorough site survey before signing the lease — or at least before committing to a firm move date — prevents unpleasant and costly surprises.

Underestimating the complexity of a phased move is also extremely common. When different departments move on different days or weeks, the IT requirements multiply significantly. You need systems running in both locations simultaneously, with reliable connectivity between them and potentially shared access to servers and applications from both sites. This requires careful planning, additional temporary equipment, and often a short-term site-to-site VPN that adds both cost and complexity.

Finally, many businesses forget entirely about the decommissioning of the old site. Network equipment left behind may still contain configuration data, passwords, or cached credentials that could be exploited. Storage devices may contain sensitive business data or personal information subject to GDPR. Active internet connections and telephone lines that are not properly cancelled continue to incur monthly charges indefinitely. A proper decommission plan should be included in your IT brief from the very beginning, not treated as an afterthought.

Post-Move Support

The move is not finished when the last cable is plugged in. The first few days at the new office inevitably bring a wave of minor issues — a monitor that is not working, a printer that will not connect, Wi-Fi that drops in a particular meeting room, or a phone that is not ringing correctly. Your IT provider should have engineers available on site or on standby for the first week to resolve these issues quickly and keep your team productive.

This post-move support period is also the time to gather feedback from staff. Are there areas where Wi-Fi coverage is weak? Are certain desks experiencing slow network speeds? Are the meeting room AV systems working as expected? This feedback helps your IT provider make adjustments and ensures the new office technology is optimised for how people actually work, not just how the floor plan suggested they would.

Finally, do not forget the old office. All IT equipment must be properly decommissioned, data must be securely wiped from any devices left behind, and network services must be cancelled or transferred. Leaving active network equipment or data-bearing devices in a vacated office is a serious security risk that could have GDPR implications.

Special Considerations for Multi-Site Businesses

If your business operates across multiple UK locations, the IT briefing process for an office move becomes more complex. A move that affects one site in a multi-site network has implications for connectivity between sites, shared services, and disaster recovery arrangements that must all be addressed in your brief.

Your IT provider needs to understand how the moving site connects to your other locations. If you use site-to-site VPNs, MPLS circuits, or SD-WAN to link your offices, the new site needs equivalent or better connectivity to maintain these links. Applications that are hosted at a central location and accessed from the moving site need to remain accessible throughout the transition, which may require temporary arrangements during the move itself.

Consider the impact on shared services. If the moving site hosts servers, applications, or infrastructure that other sites depend on, these services must be maintained during the move. This might mean pre-positioning replacement services at the new site or at another location before the move begins, ensuring that staff in Edinburgh, Leeds, or wherever your other offices are located experience no disruption even if the moving site is temporarily offline.