Lift and Shift London

Lift and shift in London and the home counties

We provide lift and shift in London for offices, hotels, hospitals, universities, data centres and manufacturers across the capital and out to the M25. The work is heavy plant moved where no crane can reach: chillers and air handling units through occupied buildings, transformers into basement switchrooms, generators and UPS into data halls, machinery moved between bays, and fragile equipment carried through public buildings.

We work across the City, Westminster, Camden, Islington, Southwark, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Brent, Ealing and Croydon, and out into Essex, Kent, Surrey and Hertfordshire. Most jobs can be priced the same working day from a desktop survey.

What lift and shift covers

We raise, lower, turn and move heavy items along a route inside a building and set them down on their base, using gantries, skates, rollers and jacks. When a crane lifts the item from the street, our crew takes it on from the loading door.

What we lift and shift in London

Item	Where it usually is	How it moves
Chillers, boilers and air handling units	Roof and basement plant rooms in offices and hotels	Lowered through a hatch or lightwell on a gantry, then skated
Transformers and switchgear	Basement switchrooms in commercial blocks	Jacked onto skates, turned in the corridor and set on the plinth
Generators, UPS and battery racks	Data centres around the capital and the M25	Skated along a protected route inside a live building
Medical and laboratory equipment	Hospital, university and research buildings	Low-headroom gantry and skates, set down where it is needed
Machinery and fabrication plant	Workshops and factory units in east and west London	Toe jacks and skates to a new bay in the same unit
Display cases and heavy fittings	Shops, galleries and public buildings	Padded rollers and hand skates, with every surface protected

Tell us the weight, the size and both positions, and we will tell you what the job involves. Our lift and shift service page explains the process in more detail.

Get In Touch

Please leave a few details and a member of our lift and shift team will be in touch to discuss your requirements in more detail.

Where we work in and around London

Most of our lift and shift work in London comes from a handful of building types.

Offices and hotels

Replacing plant in occupied offices and hotels is a large part of what we do in London. Units come in overnight or at the weekend, through a loading bay or down a lightwell, and travel to the plant room on skates. See our HVAC sector page.

Data centres

Battery racks and UPS modules go into live data halls over raised floors, with the floor loadings checked and the timing agreed with the facilities team. See our data centre infrastructure page.

Hospitals and universities

Medical and laboratory equipment and plant are moved through buildings full of patients, staff and students. The route and hours are agreed with the estates team first. See our healthcare and pharma and education pages.

Industrial units

Firms in the Lea Valley, Park Royal and the outer boroughs reposition machines for a new line or clear space for an extension, with the rest of the unit still working. See our industrial sector page.

Shops, galleries and public buildings

Heavy fittings and display cases need moving without marking a floor or a wall, often before opening time.

Substations and switchrooms

Switchgear and transformers in basement switchrooms are changed during a planned shutdown, often overnight. See our power and renewables page.

Access and planning for a lift and shift in London

Points we check on most London jobs:

Getting the lorry close. Most central buildings have no yard. A load-out usually needs a parking suspension or highway licence from the borough, and vehicles have to meet ULEZ and the Direct Vision Standard.
Basements and suspended floors. Many plant rooms are below ground, reached over suspended floors or pavement vaults. We check what each floor will take and spread the load where needed.
Headroom and corners. We measure clearance with the item on the equipment, and every door, turn and step between the street and the plant room.
Occupied buildings. Offices, hotels and hospitals keep running, so moves are timed around them and the route is closed only while we use it.
Noise and hours. Night and weekend moves come with noise conditions and marshalling, which we plan in.

Getting it where it needs to go

Many London jobs are a swap: the old unit leaves through the same lightwell or loading bay the new one comes in by. Others stay outside, across a service yard, onto a roof or between buildings on one estate.

Basement stairs, pavement hatches, mezzanines in the industrial units, ramps and raised floors are the usual obstacles, along with doors narrower than the drawings suggest. Gantries, jacks, rollers and skates deal with most of it. If the item won’t fit, it goes through in sections.

Postcodes and areas we cover

We cover every London postcode and the home counties around the M25:

Central: the City, Clerkenwell, Holborn, Westminster and Covent Garden
East and south east: Hackney, Stratford, Canary Wharf, Southwark, Greenwich and Lewisham
North and west: Islington, Camden, Wood Green, Park Royal, Chiswick and Ealing
Outer London and beyond: Croydon, Bromley, Kingston, Harrow, Wembley, Enfield, Romford, Uxbridge and out into Essex, Kent, Surrey and Hertfordshire

We also lift and shift right across the UK.

Why London firms choose Synergy Lifting for lift and shift

Measured before we price. We check the route, the floors and the headroom first, then price the job.
Crane and shift under one contract. The crane lift from the street and the move inside are run by the same team.
Used to occupied buildings. Offices, hotels and data centres carry on around us, with protection down before anything moves.
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 lift and shift

Lift and shift in London often sits inside a larger job, so we also offer:

How a lift and shift works

Send the weight and dimensions, the current and final positions, and photos of the route.
We price from a desktop survey, generally the same working day, and visit first where the route or floors are unclear.
We prepare the method statement, risk assessment and lift plan, and confirm floor loadings.
Our crew rigs, lifts, moves and positions the item.
It is set down, levelled and handed over for your contractor to connect.

Common questions

Can you lower plant down a lightwell?

Yes, if the lightwell is wide enough for the unit and a gantry can stand over it. We measure the opening and the landing below, then skate the unit to the plant room.

Do you arrange the parking suspension or licence?

Yes. We apply to the borough for the suspension, licence or closure the load-out needs, and tell you the lead time when we quote.

How much headroom do you need?

Less than most people expect, but it decides the method. What counts is the gap between the top of the item and the lowest obstruction on the route once the item is on the equipment. Where it is tight we use a low-headroom gantry or jacks and lift in smaller steps.

Will you damage our floor?

Not if the route is prepared, and that preparation is part of the price. We spread the load with mats or tracks where the slab needs it, protect finished surfaces, and agree beforehand what gets covered and what gets made good.

Get a quote for lift and shift in London

Phone: 020 8068 9512
Email: london@synergy-lifting.co.uk

Send the weight, the dimensions and photos of the route, and we will come back with a price.

We also provide lift and shift in Luton, Reading, Milton Keynes and Brighton. See all the lift and shift locations.