Case study: Parkhead Housing - Moving staff in critical weather

Parkhead Housing Association is a community controlled Housing Association based in East Glasgow with responsibility for hundreds of council owned properties as well as the maintenance service provided to tenants.

Requirements:

• The Housing Association’s aim was to relocate 30 staff to temporary accommodation over one week.
• It was critical to ensure services to tenants were maintained during the transition.
• The Housing Association employed Pickfords to relocate the Association’s furniture and computers.
• The main filing archive had to be sequentially packed and moved to ensure the order was maintained by the move contractor.

Pickfords' solution:

• Pickfords provided a comprehensive move plan to relocate the business premises over a weekend. IT disconnection took place on Thursday evening, enabling Pickfords staff to pack the IT equipment and the main filling into crates on Friday. The client's staff packed their personal desks on Friday. The move would happen during the weekend and the staff would unpack their personal crates and set up their desks on the following Monday.
• Two planning meetings took place between Pickfords and the Housing Association. A move plan was produced by Pickfords to clearly set out the move timetable.
• The local Pickfords branch at Glasgow carried out the move with a team of ten operatives and two vehicles.
• A communications document was created by Pickfords to help the Housing Association’s staff understand its part in the process of moving.
• A Move Manager attended the move to coordinate all planned services and resources. A space plan was provided by the Housing Association and Pickfords deployed its labelling system to ensure assets were labelled correctly to the space plan.
• Pickfords used specially designed sheets to protect the vulnerable areas of the building prior to the move taking place.
• Crates, were delivered from Pickfords’ local crates provider in Livingston on the Friday before the move. The crates are designed for packing files, paperwork and the contents of desks. All crates were labelled with the owner’s name, desk station and department.
• All office furniture was moved on the Friday & Saturday and crates positioned at the correct owner’s desks.
• The crates were moved in sequence to ensure order was kept for the Housing Association’s files.
• Resources included 220 crates, 35 IT crates, 35 keyboard covers, 35 anti-static bags and 20 sheets of protection to protect the premises.
• Staff arrived at the new location on Monday morning and spent the morning unpacking their crates and setting up their new workstations.

Result:

• The office move was managed within the budget and within the planned move plan and completed during very difficult weather conditions.
• The delivery to the new building was precarious as the roads were snowbound and in a dangerous condition. Pickfords had contingency plans in place ensuring the vehicles were loaded to carry extra grit as well as shovels to ensure the vehicles did not get caught in the snow.