The case for staying

There are various reasons why staying put might appear the most attractive option – but you should beware of making assumptions and falling foul of common misconceptions.

In the next section we’ll look at the role workspace consultancy plays in making an informed decision, but it’s worth first listing some of the reasons why businesses choose to refurbish or remodel rather than moving out.

Familiarity

You’re already familiar with the space you occupy and are likely to be in a good position to determine how best to remodel it to best meet the changing needs of your organisation. However, you shouldn’t let this blind you to the potential that a new space might offer.

Logistics

Staying in your current location is likely to be logistically easier than moving your whole company – people, technology, equipment, files, etc. – to a new location. However, refurbishing in occupation can present its own challenges, as you will need identify a swing space for your people to occupy while work is carried out, and it may also need to be done in phases.

Flexible timeline

If remodelling rather than moving, you don’t need to worry about lease events, notice periods or similar contractual constraints. This can take the pressure off the process, allowing you to make changes when best suits the business, rather than being driven by external factors.

Financial considerations

Moving requires dilapidation costs, legal costs, logistics costs, and acquisition agents’ costs among other things. However, these are short-term costs and may be more than offset by financial gains made over the long term, whether moving to a cheaper location or choosing to occupy less space, among other things. The financial case needs to be looked at holistically in order to determine your genuine best interests.

Challenge your assumptions

A decision as important as whether to stay or move premises needs to be based on a holistic, evidence-based view, rather than on intuition or what you think you know. It’s worth engaging with a commercial property agent to do some market research on alternative options, market rates and incentives offered by landlords.

Most importantly, you will be best served by engaging with workspace consultants, who can help you analyse your business needs and drivers for change, use of space and technology, and provide a blueprint against which to benchmark your options.