As the pandemic escalated, and country locking down, Commercial Transfer received one of their most time critical calls in their 40 year history - to urgently clear and store the UWE conference centre in preparation for Bristol's own Nightingale hospital.

In March 2020, as Covid-19 took hold of the country, Nightingale hospitals were springing up across the country to provide extra beds for the escalating cases. One Thursday afternoon our MD took a personal call requesting Commercial Transfer to urgently clear and store the contents of UWE's conference centre as part of the nationwide effort to create more hospital beds. The project needed to be completed by the following Monday to allow for the next stage of the ambitious 15 day completion to be started.

Springing into action, the site was quickly assessed and our warehouse readied. In less that 12 hours, we had updated our schedules and 4 covid-safe crews were on site ready to go. Working around the clock, and through the weekend these teams meticulously packed, labelled and cleared over 28 of our largest lorries and packing into to our storage facility for holding.

• ​Crates: Using our in-house crate department we were able to provide all the specialist packing crates needed for the move.
• Personnel: Our experienced & fully trained team can be deployed at short notice safely operating within Covid guidelines.
• Packing: Using established and certified processes, the exhibition space could be catalogued & stored and ready to be returned when Nightingale is no longer needed.
• Storage: Our large flexible storage space at our Bristol depot could easily accommodate storing over 20,000 sq ft of conference equipment, offices and furniture at short notice in a dry, temperature controlled atmosphere.
• Specialist Vehicles: With a fleet of vehicles available it was possible to select the correct vehicles for the items being cleared.
• Move Management: Our MD & Senior Move Manager worked with University and wider project board to meticulously plan the gruelling schedule.

Delivering on time and in full, it was one of the most important projects Commercial Transfer has been involved in in its history. We are proud to have played a crucial part of the in the overall success of the project and the support of our heroic NHS in saving lives.