Britannia AuctionsBusiness relocation and downsizing sales in Nottingham
Nottingham firms move short distances more often than long ones. The ring road links Lenton Lane, Colwick, Bulwell and Bestwood, and a firm that has outgrown one estate usually finds space on another, or takes a new unit at Fairham to the south. Short moves tempt people to take everything. The sums are worth checking first, because the transport saving on a short hop is small while disconnection, refitting and recommissioning cost much the same at any distance.
We sell what does not move. Pharmaceutical and laboratory firms in Beeston leave benches and analysers. Printers leave a press. Engineering shops leave a lathe. Logistics operators leave the racking and half the handling fleet. All of it is catalogued in place, sold by online auction, and collected after your last day.
Downsizing runs against the handback date rather than a move date. The sale is otherwise the same.
Laboratory and clean room kit from Beeston moves
Pharmaceutical and laboratory equipment is a familiar part of a relocation sale around Nottingham, given the firms in and around Beeston. Benches, fume cupboards, balances, ovens, refrigerated storage and analytical instruments often stay behind when a firm moves to newer space, because the new fit out is designed around new kit. Equipment of this kind is used by universities, contract labs, hospitals and small manufacturers, bidding for it is online and not limited to the area, and it travels by van rather than low loader.
We describe each instrument with model, serial and last calibration where you have it, and we ask you to confirm that anything that held product has been decontaminated before viewing. Validation records help a bidder judge the instrument and should go in the lot.
Clean room panels and HVAC plant are sold as a dismantle lot with a fixed removal date. Office furniture and IT from the same site can go in the same catalogue.
Sheds along the M1 and the ring road
Logistics firms moving between Blenheim at Bulwell and the newer sheds at Fairham leave racking and mezzanines, and the older forklifts that do not fit the new fleet contract. We check the yard and the loading at each shed before collection is planned, and the ring road makes it practical for a buyer to collect from two of your sites in one trip. The trade in Derby, Mansfield, Ilkeston and Long Eaton is close by, and the M1 puts the rest of the Midlands within an hour of a viewing day.
Printing and engineering firms leave heavier lots. A press or a machine tool on Lenton Lane is a rigger's job, and we set collection slots so that a low loader has the yard to itself.
The timing that usually suits a Nottingham move is a sale closing in the final fortnight at the old site, with collection after, though the dates depend on the lot count and on the access. Rent quarter days are a common handback point, so we plan around them.
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 Nottingham
- We are moving from Lenton Lane to Fairham. Is a five mile move worth a sale at all?
It depends on what is moving. Light equipment is cheap to move five miles and usually goes with you. Racking, mezzanines, machines on foundations and anything that will need a new power supply cost about the same to move five miles as fifty, and that is where a sale earns its keep. We give a view lot by lot on our first visit, and we will tell you when something is better taken than sold.
- Can laboratory instruments be sold if they were used with active ingredients?
Yes, once they have been decontaminated and you can say so in writing. We put the decontamination statement in the lot description and buyers rely on it. Instruments that cannot be cleared are withdrawn rather than sold. Calibration and validation records go with the lot, because buyers from contract labs and universities will not bid without them. The same rule applies to any downsizing sale where product has touched the equipment.
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.