Machine Movement Plymouth

Machine movement in Plymouth and across south west Devon

We provide machine movement in Plymouth for engineering and manufacturing firms, marine businesses, hospitals, universities and commercial buildings across the city and into south east Cornwall. The work covers single machines and whole production lines: installing new plant, relocating a works to another site, internal moves and re-layouts, removals and disposal, loading and transport, storage, and breakdown replacement. Heavy loads reach the city on the A38, so the route in is planned alongside the date on site.

We work across Plymouth, Plympton, Plymstock, Estover, Ivybridge, Yelverton and Tavistock, and over the Tamar to Saltash, Torpoint and Liskeard. Most enquiries get a price the same working day from a desktop survey.

What a machine move involves

A move runs in stages. The machine is disconnected and made safe, rigged and extracted, then transported, positioned, levelled and set down on its mounts. A machine going to another town needs a crane and a low loader. One going to the next bay may only need jacks, skates and a gantry. We choose the kit from the weight, the size of the opening and how long the machine can be stood down.

What we move in Plymouth

Equipment	Where it usually is	How it moves
CNC machining centres, lathes and grinders	Engineering units at Faraday Mill and Burrington	Raised on jacks, run out on skates and loaded by crane or forklift
Press brakes, guillotines and fabrication plant	Estates at Estover, Eurotech Park and Lee Mill	Skated to the door, then craned onto a low loader
Engines, gearboxes and workshop machinery	Marine engineering workshops along the waterfront	Craned from the quayside or gantried through the workshop door
Assembly and production lines	Manufacturers on the northern estates	Split into numbered sections, moved and rebuilt in sequence
Scanners and laboratory equipment	Hospital, university and college buildings	Air skates along a protected route to marked positions
Chillers, boilers and air handling units	Commercial plant rooms and roofs across the city	Lifted to roof level, or skated in through the plant room

Tell us the weight, the size and where it is going, and we will suggest a method. Our machine movement service page covers the process in full.

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 Plymouth

Our Plymouth machine moves come from a spread of sectors across the city and along the A38.

Faraday Mill and Burrington

Faraday Mill, close to the city centre, and Burrington to the north are home to engineering and building supply firms in a mix of older and newer units. New machines go in, worn ones come out, and now and then a whole business moves to a bigger unit. See our industrial sector page.

Eurotech Park and Lee Mill

Eurotech Park off the A386 and Lee Mill out on the A38 hold manufacturing and engineering businesses with production lines as well as single machines. A line change there means taking equipment out in sections, clearing the floor and bringing the new kit in to an agreed order. See our industrial sector page.

Marine engineering and the waterfront

Around the waterfront, marine engineering firms run machine shops and fabrication bays right by the water. Getting kit in or out can mean a crane on the quay with the tide to allow for, or a gantry through a narrow workshop door. See our maritime sector page.

Hospitals, universities and colleges

Scanners and plant room machinery in the city’s hospital and campus buildings are moved while staff and patients carry on around us. We walk the route through corridors and lifts with the estates team before booking a date, and save the larger jobs for holiday shutdowns. See our healthcare and pharma and education pages.

Commercial buildings and plant rooms

Offices, shops and hotels in the city centre and on the waterfront replace chillers, boilers and air handling units as they wear out. We lift the old units out and the new ones in, by crane to the roof or on skates through the building. See our HVAC sector page.

Access and planning for a machine move in Plymouth

Points we check on most Plymouth jobs:

Getting loads in and out. The A38 Devon Expressway brings heavy loads in from the M5 at Exeter, and the A386 runs north to Tavistock. Low bridges, weight limits and the site approach are checked before we quote.
The Tamar crossings. Jobs in Cornwall go over the Tamar Bridge or on the Torpoint ferry, and both have their own rules for heavy and wide loads. We clear the crossing as part of the route plan.
Floors and ground. Suspended floors, old workshop slabs and quayside standings are checked for what they will carry before we fix a skate route or set up a crane.
Stopping production. We need two dates from you: when the machine can come off line and when it has to be back. Setting up and clearing away come out of that gap, and the plan allows for both.
Road closures. Where the load-out needs part of a road or pavement, we can arrange the traffic management and road closure with Plymouth City Council, or with Devon County Council or Cornwall Council outside the city.

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 Plymouth, heavy loads head east on the A38 for the M5 at Exeter, or north on the A386.

Postcodes and areas we cover

We cover every PL postcode and the districts around the city:

Plymouth: city centre, Stonehouse, Mutley, Greenbank, St Budeaux and Ernesettle
East and south: Plympton, Plymstock, Turnchapel and Ivybridge
North: Estover, Yelverton, Tavistock and Okehampton
Cornwall: Saltash, Torpoint, Liskeard and Bodmin
Wider area: Totnes and Kingsbridge

We also move machinery right across the UK.

Why Plymouth firms choose Synergy Lifting for machine movement

Used to working by the water. Quayside lifts and waterfront workshops are a normal part of our Plymouth work.
Set down where it needs to be. We mark out the new position with you before the move and check it before handover, so your engineers can start reconnecting straight away.
One firm from start to finish. The crane, skates, jacks, gantries and transport are ours and run by our own people.
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

Plymouth customers add these to a machine move as well:

How a machine move works

Send us the weight and dimensions, where the machine is now, where it is going and your dates. Photos help.
We price it, usually the same working day from a desktop survey. Complex moves may need a site visit first.
We prepare the method statement, risk assessment and lift plan.
On the day we rig, extract, transport and position the machine.
We set the machine down and level it, ready for your engineers to reconnect and commission.

Common questions

Can you move our whole works to another estate in Plymouth?

Yes. We survey both buildings, agree the order the machines leave and arrive in, and move them in stages so your key equipment is back in production first. Machines can go into storage if the new floor is not ready.

Can you take a machine over the Tamar into Cornwall?

Yes. Saltash, Torpoint, Liskeard and further west are all within our working area. For a heavy or wide load we check the crossing’s restrictions when we plan the route and give any notice it needs.

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 production has usually stopped. 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 Plymouth

Phone: 01752 712 008
Email: plymouth@synergy-lifting.co.uk

A couple of photos of the machine and of both buildings will help us price it quickly.

We also provide machine movement in Exeter, Swansea, Cardiff and Newport. See all the machine movement locations.