Office removals · Lewisham
Office removals in Lewisham, where the real entrance is round the back
Office removals in Lewisham are decided at the back of the building rather than at the frontage. The commercial stock through Deptford, New Cross and the town centre is workshop and studio units, light-industrial yards and small offices sitting behind a shop front. On a main road that frontage is generally useless for loading. The genuine access is a shared service yard, reached through a gate off a side street and used by several other occupiers. So the first thing we ask is who holds that gate key, and what the arrangements in the yard actually are.
Written by Daniel, founder, Metro City Moves
Settled first
Who holds the gate key
Sets the height limit
The roller shutter opening
Quote
In writing, after a survey
What is different here
Office removals in Lewisham is its own job
What changes the plan and the price here, rather than a list that would fit any London postcode.
Who holds the gate key is the first question, not the last
In a yard unit the key is rarely held by the people moving out of it. It can sit with the landlord, with whoever occupies the building at the frontage, or with the occupier in the yard who opens up earliest. Sometimes it is simply a padlock whose combination has been circulating for years. At the survey we establish who unlocks the gate, roughly what time they normally arrive, and who secures it in the evening. Without those answers the crew begins the morning on a side street telephoning people, and the hours you have booked are consumed by waiting.
The yard is shared, and it was laid out for a transit
A service yard behind the building is private ground rather than a public kerb, which genuinely helps. The pattern repeats on a smaller scale out through Brockley, Forest Hill, Catford and Hither Green: a parade on the main road, and the working space reached from behind it. The complication is that the yard belongs to everybody operating from it. Room for two vehicles means a third waits out on the road, and the neighbouring occupiers receive deliveries and leave work in progress across the turning space. There is rarely a managing agent to book it through, so the window is settled face to face with the other businesses in the yard. The yard also determines the vehicle. Most were laid out for a transit, and a longer vehicle that cannot turn inside has to reverse out blind through the gateway. We would sooner send something smaller and accept the additional journeys.
The shutter opening sets what can leave the building assembled
In a unit of this kind the roller shutter is the door, and its opening imposes a height limit the furniture has to live within. Tall storage, a comms rack on castors and a plan chest are the items that leave tipped over or in sections because of it. Two things regularly catch firms out. An electric shutter requires power, so a supply disconnected at the end of a lease can leave it closed on the morning. A hand-chained shutter frequently stops short of fully open, and that lower position is the measurement that matters, so we record it at the survey.
A railway arch has one opening, so the order is fixed
Office and studio space inside a railway arch has a single way in and out. There is no loading dock, no goods lift and no secondary door, so everything the unit contains passes through the arch mouth in one continuous order. That order is written backwards from the vehicle: whatever has to come off first at the new address leaves the arch last. The curvature of the walls counts as well, because nothing stacks to full height against the sides and the usable width tightens towards the rear. Two trades cannot work one arch at the same time either, so your IT contractor and our crew are given separate hours.
Where this applies
The parts of Lewisham 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.
- Deptford High Street
- New Cross Road
- Brockley
- Catford
- Forest Hill
- Hither Green
- Before you fix a date
- Establish who holds the gate key and who secures the yard in the evening, then get a mobile number for whoever unlocks it.
- Measure the roller shutter at the position it genuinely stops, rather than the position it appears to reach.
- Ask the neighbouring occupiers which part of the day they need the turning space, and settle your window with them before you confirm a date.
- Check the unit will still have an electricity supply on the day, because an electric shutter will not open without one.
- Mention with your enquiry if either address is a railway arch, since a single opening determines the loading order for the entire job.
Questions
Office removals in Lewisham, answered
- Our unit is at the back of a shared yard. Who actually has to agree the move?
- Generally the other occupiers and whoever holds the gate, rather than a managing agent, because there is no booking sheet to put your name against. We walk the yard at the survey, establish where a vehicle can stand and turn, and record the window your neighbours have agreed in the written plan.
- Can you get a van into a railway arch?
- We reverse up to the arch mouth, which is the only opening available, and load directly from it. That normally means a smaller vehicle making additional runs instead of one long vehicle left out on the road. The compensation is a short carry with no staircase involved at all.
- Our tall storage will not pass under the shutter. What happens then?
- It leaves on its side, or in sections, and we tell you which at the survey rather than on the morning. Shelving and cupboards are emptied and dismantled beforehand. Anything that genuinely will not clear the opening in any position, you hear about while there is still time to decide what becomes of it.
- How do you price an office move in Lewisham?
- By the access rather than the mileage: the gate, the turn available in the yard, the shutter opening and the carry to the door. We survey before we quote, the quote comes in writing, and the number you accept is the number you pay. If the move crosses the river, office removals in South London explains how the crossing is chosen.
Keep reading
Everything else on office removals and on Lewisham
Office removals elsewhere in London
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
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