Office removals · East London
Office removals in East London, where the building is usually not an office block
Office removals in East London are a different job from a tower move because most of the office space is not in towers. Shoreditch, Hackney Wick, Bethnal Green and Hoxton rent out converted warehouses, former print works and railway arches, and a converted warehouse frequently has no goods lift at all — just one wide timber stair, a loading door that was built for pallets rather than people, and a landlord who wants the floor sheeted before anything moves.
Written by Daniel, founder, Metro City Moves
Usual building
Converted warehouse, no goods lift
Decides the plan
The stair width and the turn
Quote
In writing, after a survey
What is different here
Office removals in East London is its own job
What changes the plan and the price here, rather than a list that would fit any London postcode.
No goods lift, so the stair is the whole plan
In a warehouse conversion the stair is load-bearing on the quote in a way it never is in a tower. What matters is not the number of floors but the width at the narrowest point and the turn at the landing — a half-landing with a tight return will stop a desk that went up the first flight without touching the sides. We measure both before quoting, and where a piece will not go we say so before the day rather than on it.
Loading doors built for pallets, on streets built for carts
Many of these buildings have a generous loading door and no way to get a long vehicle in front of it. The arches and the side streets off Mare Street and around Hackney Wick are narrow, often one-way, and shared with cyclists. The plan is usually a smaller vehicle doing more trips rather than one large one that cannot reach the door.
The lease is short and the fit-out is the tenant's
East London studio and co-working space turns over quickly, and much of the fit-out belongs to the tenant rather than the building — benches, shelving, acoustic panels, sometimes a mezzanine. It travels, which means it has to come apart, and that is the part most often left off a brief. Tell us what you built and we price taking it with you.
Shared buildings mean a move is negotiated with neighbours
One stair serving six studios means your move hour is somebody else's trading hour. Buildings here rarely have a formal booking sheet, so the agreement is made with the other tenants and the building's own caretaker. We work to a window that has been agreed, and the survey is when that gets settled.
Where this applies
The parts of East London this page is about
Named, because a page about an area in general is no use to anyone standing in one. These are the places where what is written above is what we actually find.
- Shoreditch
- Hackney Wick
- Bethnal Green
- Hoxton
- Old Street
- Mare Street
- Before you fix a date
- Measure the stair at its narrowest point and photograph the landing turn — that decides what comes apart.
- Check whether the loading door can actually be reached by a long vehicle, or only by a smaller one.
- List the fit-out you installed yourself, including benches, shelving and acoustic panels.
- Agree your move window with the other tenants on the stair before you fix a date.
- Confirm who holds the keys out of hours — in a converted building it is often not a security desk.
Questions
Office removals in East London, answered
- Our building has no lift. Is that a problem?
- It is the normal case in a converted warehouse and it is what the survey is for. The stair width and the landing turn decide the crew size and what has to be dismantled, and both go on the quote before you accept it.
- Can you move a studio fit-out as well as the desks?
- Yes, where it is yours to take. Benches, shelving and panels come apart and travel with the move. Tell us at the survey, because it changes the volume more than the furniture usually does.
- Which parts of East London do you cover for office moves?
- The E postcodes and the City fringe — Shoreditch, Hoxton, Bethnal Green, Hackney Wick and out through Hackney and Tower Hamlets.
- Do you work evenings so we do not lose a trading day?
- Yes. In a shared building an evening or a weekend is usually easier to agree with the other tenants than a weekday, and it is the same crew either way.
Keep reading
Everything else on office removals and on East London
Office removals elsewhere in London
Related reading
Before you book in East London
Parking suspensions, red routes and the ULEZ — read from the councils' and TfL's own pages, with the date each fact set was checked.
- Guide
Moving to Shoreditch: the warehouse floor and the goods lift that may not exist
Moving to Shoreditch usually means a warehouse conversion with a goods lift or none at all, and a Hackney bay suspension at seven working days' notice.
Read it - Guide
Moving to Stratford: the lift slot matters more than the van
Moving to Stratford is mostly a new-build move: the goods lift booking decides the day, and Newham publishes its suspension charges only via its portal.
Read it - Guide
London parking suspensions for moving house: what every borough charges
The same one-day parking suspension costs £66.66 in Camden and £360 in Haringey. Fees, notice periods and removals concessions for nine boroughs, compared.
Read it - Guide
Parking suspension vs dispensation: which one a house move needs
A suspension reserves the parking bay; a dispensation only stops the ticket. That difference decides what a house move needs, and what each borough charges.
Read it - Guide
Red route dispensations: moving house where the council cannot help
TfL sells no parking suspensions on red routes at any price. A dispensation costs £48 a day, needs 6 working days, and red lines take no late applications.
Read it - Guide
ULEZ, removals vans and the Congestion Charge on moving day
ULEZ charges a non-compliant removals van £12.50 a day, everywhere in London, and the Congestion Charge is £18 in the centre. What applies on moving day.
Read it
What people say
Reviews left by people we have moved
Left on our Google profile. Every card links back to it, so you can read the rest — including any we would rather you did not.
Good experience with Metro City Moves. 4 bedroom house seemed bit difficult to move from London to Liverpool, but they planned well and successfully executed. Thank you.
Saqib AwanRead on Google, opens in a new tab
Get started
Tell us where you are moving from
Send a postcode and we will come back to arrange the survey, which we can do on a video call.
What you get before you commit
- A survey first, by video call or in person, so the price is built on what is actually there.
- The quote in writing, listing what is included and what is not, so both sides read the same list.
- Anything you add before you accept is priced into the quote you sign off.
Talk to us about your move
Every London postcode, 16 services, and answered at any hour — including nights and weekends.