Why businesses across the North East choose Turton's
Commercial experience, specifically. Domestic and commercial moves are not the same job. A house move has one deadline. An office move has a landlord, a managing agent, a lease end date, an IT dependency, staff who need desks on Monday, and a dilapidations schedule. We'd strongly advise using a mover with commercial experience rather than a domestic firm taking on a bigger van — the losses from getting it wrong aren't the furniture, they're the days you can't trade.
A consultation before anything is quoted. Most commercial moves need specialist input — IT decommissioning, server relocation, machinery, sometimes an electrician or a data cabling engineer. We consult before quoting so that's designed in rather than discovered on the night, and we hold a network of specialists we can bring in where the work falls outside our own remit.
One named contact. You get a project contact who surveys the site, writes the plan, and is on site on the day. Not a booking reference.
Our own crews. Every move is carried out by Turton's employees in Turton's vehicles. No agency labour walking off site at the end of a shift, no subcontractor you've never met handling your server rack.
A fixed written price. Surveyed, itemised, and valid for 30 days
Sectors we move
- Offices — from four-desk studios to multi-floor headquarters
- Retail and hospitality — shop fits, stock relocation, overnight changeovers
- Schools, colleges and nurseries — holiday-window moves, classroom and library relocation
- Care homes and medical practices — resident and patient sensitivity, records handling
- Warehouses and light industrial — racking, palletised stock, workshop equipment
- Laboratories and workshops — specialist equipment moved with the supplier where certification requires it
- Professional practices — solicitors, accountants, surveyors, where confidential file handling is the whole job
What's included in a commercial move
| Included as standard | What that means on site |
|---|---|
| Free site survey | We walk both premises, check lift capacity, loading bay access, door widths, floor protection needs and out-of-hours building rules. |
| Written move plan | Sequenced schedule, crew numbers, vehicle sizes and a floor-plan-based labelling system so every item has a destination before it moves. |
| Crate hire | Lidded, stackable, wheeled crates delivered in advance with labels, and collected after you've unpacked. Far faster than cardboard for desk moves. |
| Furniture dismantling & rebuild | Desks, bench systems, partitions, pedestals and shelving taken down and rebuilt to your new floor plan. |
| Building protection | Floor and lift protection, door frame guards and corner protection at both ends — usually a landlord or managing agent condition. |
| Risk assessment & method statement | Issued before the move for your records and your building's managing agent. |
| Insurance documentation | Goods-in-transit and public liability certificates supplied on request for your landlord or facilities team. |
Quoted separately where needed: IT decommissioning and recommissioning, data cabling, specialist machinery, archive storage, furniture and IT disposal, and out-of-hours premiums for bank holidays.
Keeping your downtime to a minimum
There's no single right answer — it depends on headcount, whether staff can work remotely, and what your lease dates allow. These are the four patterns we run most often:
| Approach | Downtime | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Friday night to Monday morning | None | Most offices up to around 60 desks. Close Friday at your old address, open Monday at the new one. |
| Overnight changeover | None | Retail and hospitality, where trading hours can't be interrupted and stock needs to be shelved before opening. |
| Phased, department by department | Partial | Larger sites and anywhere both premises are held concurrently. Each team moves in its own window and is live the next morning. |
| Holiday or shutdown window | None | Schools, colleges and manufacturers with a fixed annual shutdown. Booked well in advance — these windows fill fast. |
We'll recommend an approach at survey and tell you honestly if the timescale you're hoping for isn't realistic.
How a commercial move works
Consultation
A conversation before anything is measured: lease dates, headcount, what's coming and what's being disposed of, IT dependencies, and who else is involved — landlord, managing agent, fit-out contractor, IT provider.
Site survey, both premises
Volume, lift capacity and dimensions, loading bay access and booking rules, door widths, stair turns, floor surfaces, out-of-hours access and security arrangements. We identify anything needing a specialist here, not later.
Move plan and fixed quote
A written plan: sequence, crew numbers, vehicles, timings, and a labelling system keyed to your new floor plan. Risk assessment and method statement issued alongside. One fixed price, itemised, valid 30 days.
Preparation
Crates and labels delivered a week ahead with a briefing sheet for your staff so packing doesn't fall on one person. Floor plans distributed. Building protection installed on the day.
Decommission, move, recommission
Furniture dismantled, IT boxed and labelled by user or by rack position, everything moved in planned sequence. At the new site, furniture is rebuilt to the floor plan and crates placed at the correct desk — not stacked in reception.
Sign-off and collection
A walkthrough with your project contact against the plan, snagging list agreed on the spot, crates collected once you've unpacked. Old site left clear for the dilapidations inspection.
IT, servers and confidential data
The IT is where commercial moves go wrong, so it gets planned separately.
Desktop and desk-level kit — screens, docks, peripherals and phones are boxed per user and labelled to the destination desk, so staff sit down to their own equipment rather than a pile of hardware.
Servers, racks and comms — moved with anti-static handling and shock protection, and always coordinated with your IT provider on shutdown and power-up sequence. Where the work needs a qualified engineer rather than a mover, we bring one in from our specialist network or work alongside yours.
Confidential files — moved in sealed, numbered crates with a chain-of-custody record, so you can evidence where every file was at every point. That matters for GDPR and for regulated practices.
What we won't do — we won't disconnect gas or hard-wired electrical equipment, and we won't sign off IT we're not qualified to certify. We'll tell you which specialists you need and coordinate them.
Compliance, insurance and paperwork
Your landlord, managing agent or building manager will usually ask for documentation before letting a removal crew on site. We supply it as standard:
- Risk assessment and method statement specific to your move, issued before the day
- Goods-in-transit and public liability insurance certificates on request — cover levels confirmed in writing with your quote
- Move Assured accreditation — independently audited on insurance, staff training and complaints handling
- Waste transfer notes for anything we remove and dispose of
- DBS-checked crews where the site requires it — schools, care homes, and premises with vulnerable people present
If your building has a specific permit-to-work process, tell us at survey and we'll complete it rather than turning up and being refused access.
Areas and business parks we cover
We're based at Prospect House in Jarrow, South Shields, and cover the region's commercial centres:
- Newcastle — city centre, Newcastle Business Park, Quorum, Balliol
- Gateshead — Team Valley Trading Estate, Follingsby Park
- North Tyneside — Cobalt Business Park, Tyne Tunnel Trading Estate
- South Tyneside — Boldon Business Park, Jarrow, Hebburn
- Sunderland — Doxford International, Rainton Bridge, Sunderland Enterprise Park
- Durham — Aykley Heads, Chester-le-Street, Consett
We also relocate businesses UK-wide and into Europe.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
