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School Removals & Relocations Planned Around Your Term Dates

School Removals & Relocations Planned Around Your Term Dates

CALL 03300 585100

Bishop’s Move is a specialist school removals company. 

Moving since 1854 | Founding member of the British Association of Removers | BS 8522 | ISO 45001 | YPO and ESPO supplier | 4.6 on Trustpilot from 1,038 reviews

Our education relocation team moves schools, academies and colleges during the holidays, so classrooms, IT suites and labs are ready before the first day of term. A single project manager plans your move with you, from the first survey to the last reconnected screen. All our crews are DBS-checked and briefed on your safeguarding procedures before they arrive on site.

Call our business relocation team on 03300 585100, or book your free survey below. 

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Plan your summer move six to twelve months ahead

A school move has one date that cannot slip: the first day of term. Everything else works back from it. That’s why our school relocation checklist recommends planning six to twelve months ahead. The summer holiday is the longest window you get, but it’s also when most schools, colleges and universities want to move, so crews and dates book up early.

An early survey gives you more choice of dates and helps secure the crew and vehicles your move needs. For smaller moves, Easter or October half-term can be a useful alternative.

Here is how a school move runs with us:

1. We survey every room with your business manager and site team, on site or by video, noting access routes, lifts, parking and any rooms that must stay in use, including space needed for summer schools, holiday clubs or building contractors.

2. Your project manager writes the move plan: a room-by-room labelling scheme, the order each area moves in, IT disconnection and reconnection times, and the date your staff need to finish packing. We deliver crates and labels in advance, so staff can pack their classrooms before the end of term.

3. Our crews work through the holiday to the agreed sequence. Where a term-time move cannot be avoided, we work evenings and weekends.

4. We rebuild furniture, reconnect IT and check every room against the plan before your staff are back on site, then collect the empty crates so nothing is left behind.

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Decants, refurbishments and phased moves

Refurbishment and new-build projects rarely involve just one move. Classes go out to temporary rooms, the building work happens, and everything comes back again.

When Oxford High School refurbished, we moved its classrooms into temporary modular classrooms on the school site as a phased relocation. Our porters and fitters completed the work over a 21-day period during the school holidays.

For the University of Surrey, we moved 8km of library stock shelf by shelf into our secure storage, held it for 10 weeks, and delivered it all back within 10 days for the start of the new term.

Between phases, we can hold furniture and equipment in our own storage, as we did at our Thurrock warehouse for Queen Mary University of London, or in lockable 20ft and 40ft containers on your site. Your contractor gets an empty building, and nothing is left waiting in the car park. We’ll check during the survey that there’s level hardstanding and enough access for the container delivery vehicle.

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What our school moving services cover

  • Classrooms, staff rooms and exam furniture
  • IT suites and servers, disconnected, moved in purpose-built server cases and reconnected for your IT team to test
  • Science labs, planned with your technicians so specialist equipment is packed and moved to their requirements
  • School libraries, shelf by shelf and in sequence (see our library and archive relocation service)
  • Music, drama and costume stores. For English National Ballet School, we packed and labelled every touring costume and moved the collection across London over four days.
  • Sports, PE and art equipment, from gym apparatus to kilns and display boards
  • Confidential pupil records, admissions files and exam materials, moved in sealed crates and handled under our ISO 27001 information security procedures
  • Offices for your business manager, finance and admissions teams
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Buying through a framework you already use

Many schools and trusts need a compliant procurement route before they can appoint a contractor. We are an approved supplier on YPO, which covers schools and local authorities, and on ESPO, which covers education and the wider public sector. We’re also on APUC for colleges and universities in Scotland, and on UKUPC and the North Eastern Universities Purchasing Consortium (NEUPC) for universities in England and Wales. Our frameworks page has the details.

We also hold the standards your procurement and estates teams will check:

  • BS 8522, the British Standard for commercial moving
  • Membership of the BAR Commercial Moving Group
  • ISO 45001 for health and safety, which matters most on a site shared with pupils and staff
  • ISO 27001 for information security, covering how we handle pupil records and admissions files
  • ISO 9001 for quality and ISO 14001 for environmental management
  • Constructionline Gold and SafeContractor, the pre-qualification schemes many estates and facilities teams require before a contractor can work on site
  • DBS checks for all crew members working on school sites

Education moves we have delivered

Our relocation work for educational institutions ranges from school refurbishments to multi-phase university programmes.

For Queen Mary University of London, we moved 180 staff across seven phases over 12 months, including two IT suites at the Mile End campus and the Students’ Union. IT reinstallation ran to plan, and teaching started on schedule in the summer term of 2023.

For the University of Southampton Business School, we moved 210 staff and 1,100 crates to Boldrewood Innovation Campus. The crates were moved over a single weekend in 25 vehicle loads, from an old building served by two small lifts, without disrupting university activities.

If you are moving a university department, our university and education removals page covers higher education in more detail.

Case Studies

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Relocation Services for Queen Mary University London

17 Apr 2024

Case Studies

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The University of Southampton Business School Relocation

30 Mar 2024

Case Studies

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Relocation and Storage Services for the University of Surrey by Bishop’s Move

20 Jun 2019

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Old furniture, reuse and carbon reporting

Not everything should make the move. We tag and audit your assets before the move so you know what you own and where it is going. Furniture you no longer need is reused, donated or recycled instead of going to landfill. Clearing it before moving day also reduces the number of vehicle loads, which can lower the cost of your move.

With our partner Arpenter, we report the carbon saved by reusing existing furniture, which your school or trust can use in its net-zero reporting. Our environmental management is certified to ISO 14001.

Frequently asked questions

As early as you can. We recommend planning six to twelve months ahead, and a survey in the autumn or spring term gives you a written quote for your budget before dates are committed.

Where a term-time move is unavoidable, we schedule the work for evenings, weekends or half-term and agree access routes with your site team beforehand. Our crews are DBS-checked, sign in through your reception and follow your safeguarding procedures throughout.

If your school or trust buys through YPO or ESPO, you can appoint us through that framework. Your procurement lead will know whether it allows a direct award or needs a mini-competition.

Our engineers label and disconnect your IT, move servers in purpose-built server cases and reconnect everything at the new site for your IT team to test. Lab moves are planned with your science technicians, so each item is packed to their requirements.

Yes. We move FE colleges, sixth forms, independent schools and academies using the same approach, and colleges in Scotland can appoint us through APUC. University departments are covered on our university and education removals page.

Yes. We can hold furniture, equipment and library stock in our secure storage for the length of your project, or place lockable containers on your site. Everything is inventoried on the way in, so it comes back to the right rooms.

We price every school move from a survey, because the cost depends on the number of rooms, how much IT and specialist equipment is involved, access at both sites and whether the move is phased. The survey is free, on-site or by video, and you receive a written quote to take to your governors or trust board.

Start with a free survey

Tell us about your school, which holiday you are aiming for and what is changing, and we will arrange a free survey on site or by video. Call our business relocation team on 03300 585100, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, or book your free survey below.

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OFFICE REMOVALS
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BUSINESS STORAGE
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LIBRARY RELOCATIONS
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UNIVERSITY REMOVALS