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Machine movement in Sheffield and across South Yorkshire
We provide machine movement in Sheffield for steel and forging works, precision engineers, food producers and the city’s hospital and university estate. We move single machines and full production lines: new installations, relocations from one site to another, internal moves and re-layouts, and removals of plant for resale or scrap. Loading, transport, storage and breakdown work sit within the same service. Sheffield is a hilly city, and the slope of a yard or street can change how a machine gets onto a trailer.
We cover Sheffield, Attercliffe, Tinsley, Chapeltown and Mosborough, and out to Rotherham, Barnsley, Chesterfield and Worksop. Send us the details and we will price the job the same working day from a desktop survey.
What a machine move involves
Each move runs through disconnection and making safe, rigging and extraction, transport, then positioning, levelling and setting down on mounts. Heavy plant leaving a works may need a crane and a low loader in the yard. A move across the same shop floor can be done entirely with jacks and skates, adding a gantry where the roof allows. What we bring depends on the weight and route out, and on how long you can stop production.
What we move in Sheffield
| Equipment | Where it usually is | How it moves |
|---|---|---|
| Forging presses, hammers and heavy machine tools | Works along the Don Valley at Attercliffe, Brightside and Tinsley | Jacked in stages, skated to the door and lifted onto a low loader |
| CNC machining centres and grinders | Precision engineering units in the city and Rotherham | Skated along a protected route and craned onto a flatbed |
| Furnaces and heat treatment plant | Steel and forging works in the east end | Split into sections where needed and each piece lifted out |
| Food processing and packing lines | Food and drink plants across South Yorkshire | Separated into modules and rebuilt in line order during a shutdown |
| Laboratory and diagnostic equipment | Hospital, laboratory and university buildings | Air skates along a protected corridor to a marked spot |
| Conveyors and sortation equipment | Distribution units along the M1 corridor | Taken down bay by bay between shifts and reinstalled |
Tell us the weight of the machine and both addresses, and we will explain how we would move it. Our machine movement service page covers the process in more detail.
Contact us
Get In Touch
Please leave a few details and a member of our machine movement team will be in touch to discuss your requirements in more detail.
Where we work in and around Sheffield
Our Sheffield machine movement work spreads across five sectors.
Steel, forging and engineering in the Don Valley
Attercliffe, Brightside and Tinsley still hold a dense run of steel, forging and precision engineering firms. New plant goes in on prepared foundations, and old presses and machine tools come out of works with low roofs and worn floors. When a firm outgrows its building, we move the whole shop to a newer unit nearby. See our industrial and plastics and metals sector pages.
Hospitals, laboratories and universities
Scanners and analysers need moving between departments, and plant room machinery gets replaced as buildings are refurbished. Routes through corridors and lifts are agreed with the estates team before anything is lifted, and the work is booked around clinics and teaching. See our healthcare and pharma and education pages.
Food and drink production
Food and drink plants across South Yorkshire bring us line installs and line removals. A packing line is split into modules on the last shift before a shutdown and rebuilt in running order, with cleaning and hygiene checks built into the programme. See our food and beverages page.
The M1 corridor
Trade and distribution units between junctions 31 and 36 have yards with space to set up in. Conveyor and sortation equipment changes when a contract turns over, and chillers and air handling units go up onto flat roofs. See our HVAC sector page.
Power and utilities
Transformers and standby generators are moved inside outages that are booked well ahead. We set each unit down on its plinth ready for connection and clear the site before the outage ends. Energy from waste plant is handled the same way. See our power and renewables page.
Access and planning for a machine move in Sheffield
Points we check on most Sheffield jobs:
- Getting loads in and out. Heavy loads join the M1 between junctions 31 and 36 and reach the city on the Parkway or the Tinsley approaches. Low bridges and weight limits are checked and the route is planned before we quote.
- Gradients. A trailer parked on a slope is harder to load, and skating a machine up or down a sloping yard needs winches and restraint. We look at the levels at both ends of the move during the survey.
- Floors and ground. Old works floors can be thin concrete over voids, and much of the valley floor is made ground with culverts and buried foundations. We confirm what the floor or yard will carry and spread the load with plates or mats.
- Working windows. We fit the move into your shutdown and allow time at each end for setting up and clearing away, so production restarts on the day you planned.
- Road closures. Where a load-out needs part of a road or pavement, we arrange the traffic management and road closure with Sheffield City Council.
Moving large or heavy machinery by road
A vehicle and load over 44,000kg gross, 2.9m wide or 18.65m long is an abnormal load. Up to 80,000kg the highway and bridge authorities need two clear working days’ notice through ESDAL, rising to five above that, when the police need notice too. Loads over 2.9m wide or 18.65m long also need two clear working days’ notice to the police. Above 150,000kg or 6.1m wide a Special Order is needed, applied for about ten weeks ahead. We handle the notifications ourselves or with your haulier. From Sheffield, heavy loads reach the M1 by the Parkway or through Tinsley, with the M18 for routes east.
Postcodes and areas we cover
We cover every Sheffield S postcode and the districts around the city:
- Sheffield: city centre, Attercliffe, Darnall, Brightside, Tinsley, Hillsborough, Walkley and Heeley
- South and east: Gleadless, Handsworth, Woodhouse, Mosborough, Halfway and Dore
- North: Chapeltown, Ecclesfield, Oughtibridge and Stocksbridge
- Wider area: Rotherham, Maltby, Wath-upon-Dearne, Barnsley, Eckington and Chesterfield
We also move machinery right across the UK.
Why Sheffield firms choose Synergy Lifting for machine movement
- At home in heavy engineering. Presses, hammers and large machine tools in older works buildings are normal jobs for us in Sheffield.
- Route checked before pricing. We survey the way out and the floor loading first, so the price and the method stay the same on the day.
- One firm from start to finish. The crane, jacks, skates, gantries and transport are ours, and our own people run them.
- Qualified and accredited. CPCS and NPORS operators, lifts planned to BS 7121, equipment inspected under LOLER and PUWER, SSIP approved, Constructionline Gold Member, certified to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, and members of the Construction Plant-hire Association.
More than machine movement
A Sheffield machine move can also call for one of these:
How a machine move works
- Send us the machine’s weight and dimensions, both addresses and the dates you have in mind, with photos if you can.
- We price it from a desktop survey, normally the same working day, and visit the site first for complex moves.
- You receive the method statement, risk assessment and lift plan before work starts.
- Our team rigs and extracts the machine, transports it and positions it.
- We set it down and level it, then hand over to your engineers for commissioning.
Common questions
Our yard slopes down to the road. Can you still load a machine there?
Yes. We measure the slope during the survey, then either crane the machine straight onto a trailer parked on level ground or winch it along on skates with restraint on the downhill side. Photos of the yard and the gateway help us plan it.
Can you set a heavy press onto a new foundation?
Yes. We work from your foundation drawings and the press weight, land the machine over its bolts or mounts and level it, ready for your engineers or the manufacturer to check before it runs.
Who disconnects and reconnects the machine?
Mechanical disconnection and making safe is usually ours, and we position the machine precisely enough for commissioning. Electrical and control reconnection is coordinated with your own engineers or the machine manufacturer, and who covers what is agreed at survey stage.
Can you move a machine that has broken down?
Yes. Breakdown work is prioritised because a stopped machine means lost production. Call us with the machine details and we will give you a firm attendance time on the call.
Get a quote for machine movement in Sheffield
- Phone: 0114 352 0269
- Email: sheffield@synergy-lifting.co.uk
Send us the weight, the dimensions and both locations, with a few photos if you have them.
We also provide machine movement in Chesterfield, Doncaster, Stockport and Leeds. See all the machine movement locations.