Goodbye Southwark Hello Sutton!
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This must be the ultimate in CM's long lin( of moving stories; meanwhile, the show must go on c/o Pickfords.
THIS week's CM comes to you with the help of Pickfords Removals Ltd.
Last Friday we were rushing copy to the printers, knocking out news stories and features, reading proofs, and passing pages in our "Victorian" domain in Stamford Street, SE1 9LU. Today the same, adrenaline producing, activities are taking place in our new multi-storey skyscraper in suburbia — Sutton in Surrey. The address is Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey, phone 01-661 3500.
So after 75 years of London's hustle, bustle, noise and onetime smog, we are now in the relative calm of the Green Belt where the loudest ambient noise is the sound of a thrush murdering a worm. Inside the hustle and bustle goes on, but the noise is muted. If you are coming to see us give us warning as we can't cope with 130,000 readers at one time.
Where do Pickfords come into the story,, right here. Not only did CM move, but 52 other journals and the support services went with them. The move involved 1,400 people, their files, paper work and small pieces of equipment. This was a wellplanned removal which others — customers and removers — could copy.
IPC Business Press Ltd took the view some time ago that the cost of removing the entire furniture for 1,400 — some if it written down to nil — would far outweigh the cost of renewing it at the new place. The removal costs go far to prove their case. Additionally, a tidy environment breeds tidy minds and produces tidy work. That is an old adage applied equally well to vehicle cabs and workshops. So we moved with the minimum of furniture to our new home.
The cost of refurbishing the 450 rooms at Quadrant House is not for public consumption. An educated guess, per person is £50, allowing for quantity discounts and a slow-moving market, making a total of £70,000, less a total residual value of £14,000, producing a refurnishing cost of £56,000.
To this figure must be added the cost of our "skeleton" removal.
There were six removal contractors invited to tender. It would be unethical to divulge the value of the successful quotation — even if we knew. But what we can do is estimate the cost ourselves, using CM's Tables of Operating Costs and maximum cubic capacity pantechnicons.
The removal as carried out took nine weekends to complete from Friday noon until Sunday afternoon. There was one weekend break when Pickfords moved themselves and other NFC Ltd companies to their new home in Bedford.
CM's estimated total requirement in van loads is 200 and we further estimate an average of 21/2 loads per vehicle each weekend. This means we require nine vehicles throughout the move. We would want £15,000 for the transport part of the operation.
This rate takes into consideration that the standing cost per hour will be an increasing proportion of the operating cost as the vehicles will stand idle for longer periods this winter. Of course, we could ignore that, give up the profit and do the job for £12,000.
But let us stick to the profit earning quote and add £15,000 transport to £56,000 for refurnishing. A further cost has yet to be added.
The paper work and small pieces had to be crated and the removal contractor supplied these at a weekly rental.
The IPC crates were supplied by Rentacrate of London. They were sturdy, plastic, units measuring 2ft 4in x lft 6in x 1ft 3in. The rental period was estimated as nine weeks for 1,500 crates. CM's estimated cost for this fa
cility is E250, with a premium fo demurrage — say another £250 Therefore, had we at CM quote( for the job, to make a sensibli profit and cover every eventual ity, we would have asked fo £15,500, making IPC's costs fo new furnishings and remove E71,000. But there is a bonus ir this because the old furnitur( and equipment has a residua value.
We estimate the residual valuf at as little as £15 per person That takes £21,000 off the total leaving a net cost of £50,000.
If we then estimate the entirE removal costs we talk in terms o 500 loads or 150 per cent heaviei transport charges. This woulc run to £38,750 and take 26 week. ends to complete, requirinc extra manning at both ends foi these additional 17 weeks. Tc employ five men for 20 hourf. over a weekend for 17 week: would cost £12,000. In additior there would be heating anc lighting costs.
The £50,000 we would quotE for the skeleton removal and thE new furniture is already passed And there are hidden costs which we have not built into thE full removal quotation.
That was our costing exercise, • how did Pickfords and 1PC go out the operation. They nned it to the last detail and rond. Line management was iught into action. After it was over these were the people o had to make the system rk.
They played at dolls' houses h scale models of furniture weeks, fitting everyone into new location. This was an al opportunity to iron out botnecks in the copy-flow ;tern, separate the incompatis — fixtures and human — i place people into an enviiment that suited their task I temperament. Hopefully is worked at CM!
I was also an opportunity to ar out. Files of corresponice that had lain unseen for ]rs are now being recycled. ey were removed by iybanks of Deptford, South idon.
The service and administrative Dple began fitting out Quaint House to the operating inager's plans. At the same ie fixtures, fittings, carpets, -titions, phones and all the ler business essentials were nned, located and installed. -hen came the removal men. e any removal, from one
ground to ground to a ssive operation like this, the imators had to come in. wever, whereas any remover I do a one to one room iund to ground, there is a fted choice when it comes to ) to 420 rooms, from eight basement floors plus to 20 up.
IPC called in Pickfords and five others. They all had the same specification. Pickfords won the contract by a whisker, we are told.
But you don't move an office block housing 1,400 people without moving a few homes also. Many people on the IPC staff decided they wanted to take advantage of the company's generous relocation allowances to move home nearer to their new workplace. Pickfords offered special terms to these people — another bonus for them in a well-planned move.
The great concern, of course, was where our small bits, pieces and files would finish up during the weekend move. We could see the Ansafone, which accepts readers' letters and news stories 24 hours daily, 365 days of the year, landing on the desk of some other news hungry journalist on another publication.
Editors — well one I know was concerned that his confidential staff file might go adrift. Others were concerned over the safety of everything under the sun from bottle openers to family portraits. Their fears were without foundation — all arrived safe and sound, but not without planning.
Before we left Dorset House all the small items which had to be moved were labelled. Each of the floors in Quadrant House were identified by coloured labels. Ours was a regal purple — what else? Each label was divided into two compartments to show the room on the floor and the position in the room. It made life easy.
The loose files were packed into the plastic crates. They also were labelled, they arrived "in good order and condition" — to use the "in" jargon.
This was a massive operation carried out as calmly and efficiently as the one organised by Messrs Montgomery and Eisenhower in 1944. Ours, thankfully, was without casualties.
The large removers have this very limited commercial market to themselves, but any operation can be scaled up or down. This type of operation was becoming acceptable in domestic removals when the house market was moving.
It is static now, but people will undoubtedly be moving to new jobs in new areas in 12 months' time. The economic base of the UK is going through change. Just as old jobs have disappeared so will new jobs appear in new areas and people to man them will need to move to the job; life is changing.
This means removers must change their approach to life also. They will have to become consultants or advisers, and they will need to point out to their customers the advantages of leaving the furniture where it is, apart of course from family treasures, and remove the bare essentials. Of course, it will not always pay to get up, walk out, and re-locate, leaving all behind. This is where the expertise of the alert professional will pay off.
Removal consultancy should be regarded as a service to the customer which is paid for in the price of the job, and it will win further business.
A skeleton removal has a hidden bonus. When heavy furniture is eliminated, a two-man crew should comfortably handle the objets d'art and the deed boxes.
"From little acorns mighty oak trees grow." Our move to Sutton puts that quote into reverse. "From mighty oak trees little acorns fall." Small removers could do worse than pick them up.
Remember the new address and Ansaphone number.
Room 304C Quadrant House The Quadrant Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS Phone: 01-661 3500 (see page 2 for extensions)
CM Ansaphone Service: 01-661.
3249.