Baillie Gifford is one of the UK’s leading independent investment management firms. Following a period of expansion and growth, they decided to relocate from three existing buildings into a new prize-winning headquarters building in the heart of Edinburgh.

The challenge was to do so without interruption to their business, a demand that was dictated in part by the Financial Services Authority.

The relocation project, which represented a small part of a significant change management process, was made more challenging by the desire to utilise all existing furniture and retain all existing document filing but within new, and different sized, storage cabinets. The city centre location offered additional challenges where no disruption to the main thoroughfare brought an added dimension to the challenge.

• Establish a comprehensive project plan.
• Lead the project and utilise all internal and third party resources.
• Develop and implement a corporate wide communications plan.
• Risk assess all business activities and develop associated contingency plans.
• Liaise with building and fitout contractors to ensure fit-out programme was completed on time and to required standards.
• Liaise with local authorities, landlords (new and old) other tenants etc to manage vacation and dilapidations programme.
• Logistical planning of all documents and furniture relocation.
• Enable and motivate corporate wide relocation ambassadors.
• Procurement of specialist removal and IT contractors.
• Develop procedures and controls to maintain security, in all locations, during relocation activities.

• Relocation completed on time and to plan.
• No major loss or damage to corporate assets.
• No security breaches.
• No unplanned business disruption experienced throughout the project.
• No disruption to public services or thoroughfares within the city centre location.
• Vacated buildings restored and handed back to landlords without issue.
• Positive staff feedback on the efficiency of the relocation project, the logistics of the move and of the overall communication programme.