Office Removals — Clearance vs Relocation

"Office removals" is one of the most searched terms in our industry — but it means different things to different people. Some want to move their office to a new location. Others want to clear everything out and hand the keys back. Most need a bit of both. Here's how to work out which service you actually need.

"Removals" Means Different Things

When someone searches for "office removals", they typically fall into one of three groups:

• Clearing out — the office is closing, the lease is ending, or you're downsizing. Everything needs to go. You don't need items moved to a new location — you need them removed, recycled and disposed of responsibly
• Relocating — you're moving to a new office. Desks, chairs, IT equipment, files — everything needs to be packed, transported and set up at the new premises
• Both — you're relocating but the new space is smaller, or you're upgrading furniture. Some items go to the new office, the rest need clearing

The service you need depends entirely on which group you fall into. A traditional removal company can handle group two. For groups one and three, you need a clearance specialist — or you'll end up paying to relocate items you don't want and still need to arrange separate disposal.

If You're Clearing Out

If everything needs to go, what you need is an office clearance, not a removal. The difference matters:

• Clearance involves sorting every item for reuse, recycling or disposal — not just loading everything into a truck
• You'll need Duty of Care waste transfer notes for every load of commercial waste removed (it's the law)
• IT equipment needs secure data destruction with certificates — not just carting it away
• Quality furniture should be valued and resold, offsetting your clearance costs, rather than sent to landfill

A removal company won't do any of this. They move things from A to B — disposal, recycling, documentation and data destruction aren't in their toolkit. You'd need to arrange all of that separately.

See our full office clearance service for how we handle this, or read our office clearance guide for a detailed overview of the process.

If You're Relocating

If you're genuinely moving from one office to another and taking everything with you, a traditional office relocation service is what you need. This typically includes:

• Packing and labelling
• Disassembly and reassembly of furniture
• IT disconnection and reconnection
• Crate hire and protective wrapping
• Transport to the new premises
• Unpacking and setup

Our office move planner can help you build a timeline and checklist for a relocation. The cost estimator will give you a ballpark figure based on your office size and distance.

Why Removal Companies Aren't the Right Fit for Clearance

We see this regularly: a business calls a removal company to "remove everything from the office", expecting it to be sorted, recycled and disposed of properly. Here's what typically happens instead:

• No sorting — everything goes into the truck together. Reusable furniture, recyclable materials and general waste are treated the same
• No waste documentation — removal companies aren't usually licensed waste carriers. If your waste ends up at an unlicensed facility, you are liable under Duty of Care
• No data destruction — hard drives and storage media are thrown in with everything else. No certificates, no audit trail
• No value recovery — that £15,000 worth of Herman Miller furniture? Gone — along with any potential offset against your costs
• No environmental reporting — no ESG impact data, no landfill diversion stats, no carbon accounting

Removal firms are excellent at what they do — moving items safely from one location to another. But clearance is a fundamentally different service that requires waste management expertise, environmental compliance and asset recovery capability.

What Clear Workspace Does Differently

We handle the full lifecycle of every item in your office, not just the transport:

• On-site sorting — every item assessed for reuse, resale, recycling or disposal
• Furniture valuation — quality items valued and sold through our trade channels, with proceeds offset against your clearance bill
• Secure data destruction — hard drives, SSDs and storage media wiped or physically destroyed with ADISA-standard certificates
• Licensed waste management — full Duty of Care compliance with waste transfer notes for every load
• ESG impact reporting — detailed breakdown of reuse, recycling and landfill diversion rates
• One point of contact — from site visit to final clean, you deal with one team

When You Need Both

The most common scenario we encounter is a business that's relocating but doesn't want to take everything. The new office is smaller, or they're upgrading furniture, or they've accumulated years of items they no longer need.

In these cases, we work as part of the relocation project:

1. Pre-move audit — we visit both the old and new premises, help you decide what's worth taking and what should go
2. Furniture valuation — items not moving to the new office are valued for resale. Use our furniture valuation tool for a quick estimate
3. Coordination with movers — we work alongside your relocation company (or recommend one), clearing items they don't need to handle
4. Same-day clearance — once the movers have taken what's needed, we clear everything that's left
5. Final handover — premises left broom-clean and ready for the landlord

This approach is faster and cheaper than trying to handle clearance and relocation separately, and it means nothing gets forgotten or left behind.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between office removals and office clearance?

Office removals traditionally means moving items from one location to another (relocation). Office clearance means removing and disposing of items you no longer need. Many people search for "office removals" when they actually need clearance — removing everything from the premises rather than moving it somewhere new.

Can you handle both clearance and relocation at the same time?

Yes — this is actually very common. When moving office, most businesses need some items relocated to the new space and other items cleared from the old one. We manage both as a single project, so nothing falls between the cracks.

Why not just use a regular removal company?

Traditional removal companies move things from A to B — that's their core service. They typically don't sort items, handle waste documentation, dispose of IT equipment securely, recycle, or provide ESG reporting. If you need items removed and disposed of responsibly (not just relocated), you need a clearance specialist.

Do you relocate offices as well as clear them?

We primarily specialise in clearance, decommissioning and furniture disposal. For full office relocations (packing, moving, unpacking at the new site), we work alongside specialist relocation partners. If you need both, we coordinate the entire project.