FTSE 100 French oil and gas company group move to London

TTA Relocation were approached to tender for the group move from Paris to London of 50 members of the Treasury and Investor Relations teams of a large French Energy company. There followed a detailed and coordinated planning process, working closely with the client HR expatriate team in London, group project management team in Paris and external consultants from PWC to provide a co-ordinated seamless transition plan for the teams into their new roles and life in London. The deadline for the teams to be settled in London was the 1st September 2014.

Work commenced in the autumn of 2013 to prepare the following areas of research and analysis:

• Preparation of report on market conditions
• Preparation of projected housing costs & proposed rent allowances for the group move
• Provision of detailed housing area guides
• Detailed analysis of possible journey times to schools and office
• Analysis of expected utility costs for varying property sizes to assist with review of budgets
• Detailed scheduling plan for visits to London for 2 days of accompanied property viewings.
• Miscellaneous materials to be provided in both French and English
• Preparation of corporate tenancy agreement under the new company name

There were a large number of interdependencies to coordinate the movement of 25 single assignees and 25 families, with visits to London being managed and scheduled in meticulous detail to take into account the work commitments of assignees, spouses, personal leave, public holidays and TTA resourcing availability.

The first influx of assignees arrived into the UK in April 2014 to carry our their home searches, 28 home searches were carried out in April for this client alone, followed by 7 in May and 9 in June and the final few through July, August and September. Our bilingual team of property counsellors ensured that each assignee was met from the Eurostar at St Pancras and showed a carefully prepared selection of properties over two days in their chosen areas. Once selections had been made the office team took over the submission of the offers, tenancy negotiations and property check-in preparations. Close co-ordination with the project team throughout the process was vital to ensure that move dates for assignees into their chosen homes met with business continuity plans and office relocation considerations.

Each assignee was provided with a personal relocation account manager to guide them through the process ensuring that questions and concerns could be answered directly (and where English was not spoken French spoken support was provided by TTA). TTA ensured throughout the process that issues and challenges were fed back to the Company and strategies put in place to resolve issues.

By the end of August all of the assignees had secured properties in London and were ready for the unveiling of the new offices.

TTA continued to manage the tenancies for all of the Assignees both in respect of property management, lease renewals and expense management during their time in London. An Assignee satisfaction survey conducted by the company shortly after the move confirmed that the assignees were happy with the support they received in their relocation.