When the pandemic was at its height it was reported that many companies were considering putting plans into place to reduce their office footprint. The need for homeworking and social distancing seemed to be the precursor to the ‘death of the office’. However, in recent reports, such as the KPMG CEO Outlook Survey, the focus for some of the world’s largest businesses is shifting away from reducing office capacity to more of an emphasis on ‘flexible working cultures’. The period of working from home still appears to be impacting forward with many roles adopting a hybrid method of working; part of the week office based and part of the week working from home. The ratio of time on site: working remotely varying depending on the job and the industry.
With the trend moving away from relocating to smaller premises, the change in working arrangements is leading to an increasing need to reconfigure commercial premises to best meet the needs of employees when they are in the office. It maybe that there will be an increase in shared office space or a need for less workstations and more ‘collaborative spaces.’ Whether it’s a move to new premises to better suit future working practices, an internal move of furniture and resources to reconfigure existing premises to work better, or even a reallocation of furniture and resources for employees to use at home in their home office, there are opportunities for companies to make the new working arrangements work for them.
There are many factors to consider here. Not only does the movement of furniture and equipment require the services of a professional removals company who are well versed in commercial relocations to execute a swift and efficient move minimising downtime, but consideration needs to be given to waste generated during the move. With an ever increasing emphasis on environmental issues, it’s important that commercial moves factor in ways of diverting office equipment away from landfill.
There’s often opportunity to donate unwanted office furniture and IT equipment etc to local charities or community organisations. This can provide really valuable support to the organisations and bolster a company’s corporate social responsibility strategy in a meaningful way.
Recycling items according to their composition is important to avoid unnecessary reliance on landfill. From metal (eg office filing cabinets, desk legs etc) to textiles and paper products – they can all have a second life. Hazardous items such as fluorescent tubes require specialist recycling. Meanwhile, general waste is collected for automated segregation and recycling. The residual waste is used in a ‘waste to energy’ process, refuse-derived fuel and solid recovered fuel facilities. Essentially, the energy in the waste can be captured and recovered to avoid landfill.
If you are planning an office move either to new premises or need an internal relocation, and would like to discuss what your move entails and how we can help make your move an environmentally friendly one, our specialist commercial moving team can be contacted on 01902 714555 or via sales@burkebros.co.uk.
