Britannia AuctionsBusiness relocation and downsizing sales in Bristol
Aerospace suppliers on the north fringe of Bristol move when a contract changes what they machine. A firm that has taken on composites work needs a clean room and an oven where the turning section used to be, and the older lathes and mills come out to make space. Another consolidates two units at Filton or Emersons Green into one and finds that it owns two of everything.
We sell the surplus by online timed auction from the unit, with the lots catalogued in place and photographed under power. Bidding for precision machine tools, inspection equipment and tooling is online and open to the rest of the country, and the trade in Yate, Thornbury, Keynsham and Bath is close enough to view on the day.
Distribution firms on the Avonmouth and Severnside estates come to us for a different reason, usually a lease, and we cover that below.
Precision machining lots from the north fringe
Machine tools from aerospace work come with paperwork, and the paperwork is part of the lot. Calibration records, probe kits, tooling and maintenance history are what a bidder judges a machine on, so we ask for them on our first visit and put them in the catalogue. A CNC machining centre with its fourth axis, its tool holders, its probe and its programs is a different lot from a bare machine.
Inspection kit, from coordinate measuring machines to surface tables and gauges, suits the same trade. Composite firms leave ovens, freezers for prepreg, cutting tables and vacuum pumps, which are bought by a narrower set of firms, so condition and specification count for more.
Access is checked unit by unit, on the north fringe and at St Philips Marsh and Brislington alike. A large machining centre needs a rigging plan, a door it will pass through and a road that will take the vehicle, and we establish all of that at the site visit so the catalogue can say what removal involves.
Sheds handed back on the Severnside estates
A warehouse move at Avonmouth or Central Park is about the fit out. Racking, mezzanine floors, dock levellers, conveyors and the forklift fleet were bought for that shed, and the new one is either already fitted or a different shape. The landlord wants the shed back as a bare box, and the lease says when.
We sell the fit out by online timed auction and manage the strip out through the collection window. Racking goes in runs to dealers and to firms fitting out sheds of their own. Forklifts go to the trade and to hauliers, and the ones on contract hire go back to the finance company, not into the sale.
We check vehicle access, turning space, the dock arrangements and the floor before the collection plan is written. The M49 and the M5 put the trade in Weston-super-Mare, Portishead, Clevedon and south Wales within an hour of a viewing day, and bidding is online and open to the whole of the UK. The timetable works back from the lease date, and how much room it leaves is set by the number of lots and the strip out.
What these sales can include
- CNC machine tools
- Presses and press brakes
- Racking and mezzanine floors
- Forklift trucks
- Air compressors
- Workshop tooling and hand tools
- Office furniture and desks
- IT equipment and servers
- Packing and labelling machines
- Welding equipment
- Extraction and dust collection systems
- Vans and light commercial vehicles
How the sale runs
We visit the site, list the lots and photograph them in place. You tell us which items are moving and which are for sale, and we tag the sale lots so there is no confusion on the shop floor.
The catalogue goes online as a timed auction. Bidding stays open for a set period, usually one to two weeks, and each lot closes at a fixed time with an extension if a bid arrives in the last minutes. We hold a viewing day at your premises, and lots are offered as seen under the auction terms, with buyers expected to inspect first.
After the sale we invoice the buyers and take payment. You are paid once the sale is reconciled and the collection window has closed, from cleared funds, less the agreed commission and any agreed costs. Buyers arrange and pay for removal, and our staff attend to release lots against paid invoices.
The business relocation and downsizing sales page covers when a relocation sale makes sense, timing the sale around the move, what to prepare, valuation and reserves, unsold lots and leftovers.
Questions about selling in Bristol
- We are combining two units into one at Emersons Green. Should we sell the duplicate machines before or after the move?
Before, from the unit you are leaving. Once a machine has been moved and installed at the new site, selling it means disconnecting it again and putting a low loader in a working factory. Decide which of each pair is going, tag the other one, and we catalogue it where it stands. The sale closes before the move date and the buyer collects while your riggers are busy with the machines that are going.
- Our composite ovens were built for us. Will they sell?
They can be catalogued and offered, though what they make depends on what they were built to do. A curing oven or an autoclave suits other composite firms and engineering companies that need heat treatment, and firms of that kind are spread across the UK rather than close by. We list the working volume, the temperature range and the control system and photograph the chamber, because a distant bidder buys on the description. Freezers and cutting tables are easier to describe and to move.
More questions about relocation sales
Related services
Guides
- Closing a business: a timeline for selling the assets
Work backwards from the day you hand the site over. This guide covers lease end and dilapidations, when to instruct, when staff should leave, when to keep the power on, and how to leave enough room for collection and making good.
- Selling a commercial vehicle fleet
Fleet sales turn on paperwork as much as on price. This guide covers the V5C, MOT and plating documents, clearing finance before listing, keys and livery, recording mileage and tachograph data, and how to defleet in batches while still trading.