An Office Move

Over this second Lockdown, it appears that quite a few companies have decided to move out of the building where my office sits.  Some have found that they can cope just fine entirely working from home, some have moved elsewhere, and some (I’m pretty sure) have just given up the ghost.

However, taking some advantage of that, I’ve been able to move my office to a larger/better one with minimum hassle.

The one I was in was OK, but had an issue with *very* thin walls – studwork walls, in an 80’s open-plan setup that was then converted to house multiple small businesses – to the extent that I could hear phone calls and conversations from the offices either side of mine, with absolute clarity. (Which meant I knew *way* more about their clients than I ever wanted to)  And with the new prevalence of video-calls and so on, that’s even more of a factor.

The new one is better built, better lit, and larger. I’m paying a bit more for it, but it’s well within manageable levels.  The only downside (at the moment) is that the fluorescent tube lights in it are noisy, with a buzz that I can hear all the time.  However, I’ve raised that as an issue, and been able to get them to agree to change them to new lamps with an electronic ballast – I don’t have a clue, but apparently it’ll mean it runs silently. And if it doesn’t, well I’ll just unplug them, as I have in other offices.

Even better, the move was easy as chuff. It took two hours to move everything from one to the other, and get it all set up.  I’ve probably got some layout changes to make, a couple of things to buy (a new office chair, for example, once Lockdown is over) , but it’s all good. I’m happy with the new unit, and hopefully it’ll be home for another couple of years.


4 Comments on “An Office Move”

  1. Blue Witch says:

    Buzzing lights annoy me too. But surely they should be putting in LED lights now – much cheaper to run and better for the environment?

    Is it wrong that it amused me that you had to move something this year? 😉

  2. Lyle says:

    I agree, LEDs would be a better plan, but it’s something that’s outside of my control. The building owners are a charity, and the conversion of the entire lot to LED is something that they feel wouldn’t be a worthwhile use of money.

    In some ways I can understand that, in others I can’t – they’re extraordinarily slack about things like lights being left on overnight (and longer) and so on, so there’s a lot that is (to my eyes) wasteful and that they won’t deal with. But at the same time, I can’t protest too much – the only reason my office rent has risen at all in the time I’ve been here is because I’ve upgraded an office, rather than them putting the prices up.

  3. Blue Witch says:

    Lights on in office buildings (and shops) unnecessarily (and always overnight) is one of the things that makes me want to scream… it would be so easy to save so much energy/CO2 emission by turning them off.

    Such a simple thing to do that would make such a difference – but no, it’s easier to say no more diesel/petrol cars after 2030 (something htat every expert says is utterly unattainable by the industry), but continue to let airports expand (and there to be no VAT on aeroplane kerosene). Utter madness.

    And as for converting to LED costing a lot – I’ll bet it would pay for itself within 2 years, and LED lights last a long time (so no ongoing maintenance as well as much cheaper running costs), and the light is better for humans to work under.

  4. Lyle says:

    I totally agree – and have said so, both on here and to them – but it’s their choice at the end. I’ve also said about timer switches (like in HMO stairwells, where you turn on the light and it then counts down to turn off automatically) but that’s been a no as well.

    *Personally* I don’t understand why people don’t turn off lights – I’ve literally seen people in my building walk into a room, turn on the lights, then turn around and walk back out without turning them off again. I assume they have partners/parents at home just following them around all the time to turn stuff off after them, or something.

    And as for driving into a city at night and seeing all the office buildings with lights left blazing all night (and even more so at this time of year) well, words just fail me. (Printable words, at least)


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