Britannia AuctionsBusiness relocation and downsizing sales in Reading
Reading is an office town with workshops behind it, and the relocation sales come from both. A technology company on Green Park or at Thames Valley Park gives up a floor and keeps two. The desks, the screens, the meeting rooms and the server room on the floor it is leaving are sold, and the floor goes back to the landlord at the break date. Behind the office parks, an engineering workshop on Loverock Road or Portman Road moves to a bigger unit at Theale and leaves the machines that would not fit.
We sell both by online timed auction. Office sales are the quicker of the two, with collection through the goods lift. Workshop sales need a removal plan and the right vehicle, and the M4 junctions keep the transport straightforward.
The trade in Wokingham, Bracknell, Basingstoke and Newbury is near enough to come and see the lots, and bidding is online and open across the UK.
Office floors and server rooms from the business parks
An office downsizing sells by volume. A floor of desks and chairs, the pedestals and storage under them, the meeting room tables, the kitchen equipment and the reception furniture go to dealers, to other offices, to schools and to firms fitting out new space. Quality matters more than people expect. Modern sit stand desks from a technology firm and older furniture from a cheaper fit out are not the same lot, and we tell you which is which before the catalogue is written.
The server room is different. Servers, switches, storage arrays, racks and the cooling units around them suit IT resellers, and bidding is online and open nationally. Drives are cleared before collection, either by you or, where it is agreed, through an arrangement we make with a certificate for each one. Licences do not always transfer, so we check.
Business park buildings have booked loading bays and goods lifts, so collection is one day with timed slots, agreed with the building's management before the auction opens.
Workshop kit from the trade estates behind the offices
The workshops on Battle Farm Trading Estate and around Cardiff Road are small, and their moves leave a short list of heavy lots. A lathe, a mill, a press brake and a compressor, with the tooling and benches around them. Vehicle repairers leave lifts and tyre equipment. Plant hire yards leave the small plant and the vans.
Short lists are still worth an auction. Lots of this kind suit the engineering trade across the Thames Valley, which is close enough to walk the lots on the viewing day. We photograph the machines under power, list the tooling with them, and give the heavy lots a collection slot so the low loader is not sharing the yard with your removal lorry.
The larger units at Theale near junction 12 and the older estates in town are checked the same way, and we walk the route out at the site visit before the catalogue says what vehicle to send. Where the machine is worth more than the sale around it, we discuss private treaty.
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 Reading
- We are keeping two floors and giving one back at the break date. Can you sell only what is on that floor?
Yes. We tag the lots on the floor you are leaving and the rest of the building is not in the sale. If it suits you, sell the older furniture from the floors you are keeping as well and move the better desks down, which is easy to arrange while we are cataloguing. Viewing is on one day with your facilities team present, and collection is timed through the goods lift so your staff on the other floors are not disturbed.
- Our servers hold customer data. How is that handled before they are sold?
Clearing the data is settled before anything is listed. Where it is agreed, drives are wiped to a recognised standard before collection with a certificate for each one, and drives that cannot be wiped are destroyed and certified. Where you prefer to keep the drives, the servers are sold without them, which the description says plainly. We agree the approach with your IT lead when we walk the site and nothing leaves the building until you are satisfied. Networking kit has its configuration reset the same way.
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.