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Lift and shift in Teesside and across the Tees Valley
We provide lift and shift in Teesside for process plants, engineering works, manufacturers and offshore wind suppliers on both banks of the river. It covers heavy equipment a crane cannot reach or cannot place: transformers and switchgear into switchrooms, chillers, boilers, air handling units and generators in and out of plant rooms, machinery repositioned inside factories, tanks and process skids shifted between plinths, and laboratory equipment moved between rooms.
We work out of Darlington, just west of the valley, and cover Stockton-on-Tees, Thornaby, Billingham, Hartlepool, Redcar, Yarm, Eaglescliffe and Guisborough. The town itself has its own lift and shift in Middlesbrough page. Most jobs are priced the same working day.
What lift and shift covers
Lift and shift means raising, lowering, turning and moving a heavy item along a route and setting it on its base without a crane hook. We use gantries, skates, rollers and jacks. Where a crane lands the item at a door or on a roof, the shift takes it from there.
What we lift and shift in Teesside
| Item | Where it usually is | How it moves |
|---|---|---|
| Switchgear and transformers | Switchrooms and substations on process plants and estates | Jacked onto skates, turned inside the room and lowered onto the plinth |
| Chillers, boilers and air handling units | Basement plant rooms in Stockton and Middlesbrough | Skated through the building and set on the frame with a gantry |
| Tanks and process skids | Bunded areas and pump houses on process plants | Gantry over the skid, lifted clear of pipework and skated to a new base |
| Machine tools and presses | Factory floors on Riverside Park and Teesside Estate | Toe jacks under the bed, then skates to a new bay |
| Standby generators and UPS | Control buildings and comms rooms | Skated in through the roller shutter and landed on its mounts |
| Laboratory and analyser equipment | Labs and analyser houses on chemical sites | Padded skates at walking pace, floors covered |
Give us the weight and size and we will set out the method. Our lift and shift service page describes the process in full.
Contact us
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 Teesside
Our Teesside lift and shift work comes from these parts of the valley.
Chemical and process plants
Process buildings at Billingham and along the river were put up around their equipment. Replacing a dosing skid or an agitator tank means a gantry inside the steelwork and skates through whatever gap the pipework leaves. See our chemicals sector page.
Offshore wind and marine suppliers
Offshore wind suppliers have taken units along the estuary. Inside their halls we set down test benches and heavy fixtures, then move them again when the layout changes. See our power and renewables and maritime pages.
Hartlepool and Billingham
Hartlepool’s engineering firms and the plants around Billingham keep older equipment in service. We swap tanks onto new bunds and bring compressors out of houses built with barely a metre to spare.
Riverside Park, Teesside Estate and Mandale Park
Manufacturers here call us when a new machine arrives and an old one has to make room. Production carries on in the next bay while presses are jacked and skated into place. See our industrial sector page.
Plant rooms and rooftop units
Offices and factory units in Stockton and Thornaby replace boilers and chillers as they age. Where the plant sits on a roof, a crane lands the new unit and our crew skates it along to its frame. See our HVAC sector page.
New industrial buildings
New units across the valley need plant fitted once the shell is up. We take transformers and generators from the vehicle to the base and level them for the installers. See our construction sector page.
Access and planning for a lift and shift in Teesside
Points we check on most Teesside jobs:
- Working inside live process plant. On chemical sites the shift runs under the operator’s permits, and each step waits for its isolation. The programme fits the outage window the site sets.
- Slabs on made ground. Plenty of Teesside buildings sit on reclaimed land, and old slabs can hide pits and ducts. We check the floor along the full route and spread the load with mats or tracks.
- Headroom and the route. We measure clearance with the item on the equipment, then walk every door, pipe bridge, step and turn to the base.
- Occupied buildings. Offices and factories keep working, so the route is fenced off in stages as we pass.
- Road closures and loading. If the lorry has to stand on the road, we apply to Hartlepool, Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough or Redcar and Cleveland council and bring the traffic management.
Getting it where it needs to go
A job can run into a building or out of one, or both in one visit when old plant comes out and the replacement goes straight in. Some stay outside, such as a transformer moved across a compound to a new plinth.
Process units bring pipe bridges overhead and grating underfoot, and control rooms add raised floors. Engineering works have mezzanines and ramps, while older buildings in Stockton and Middlesbrough have basements and narrow stairs. Gantries, jacks, rollers and skates get past these, with a crane where it helps. When nothing fits, we strip back a door frame and make it good, or take the item through in sections.
Postcodes and areas we cover
We cover every TS postcode, including the parts in County Durham and North Yorkshire:
- North of the Tees: Billingham, Norton, Hartlepool, Seaton Carew, Wingate and Trimdon
- Stockton and the west: Stockton-on-Tees, Thornaby, Ingleby Barwick, Yarm, Eaglescliffe and Sedgefield
- Redcar and Cleveland: Eston, Ormesby, Redcar, Marske, Saltburn, Guisborough and Loftus
- Middlesbrough and towards the moors: Acklam, Linthorpe, Marton, Coulby Newham, Great Ayton and Stokesley
We also lift and shift right across the UK.
Why Teesside firms choose Synergy Lifting for lift and shift
- Heavy kit is normal work. Our jacks and gantries are sized for the tanks and skids Teesside’s plants run on.
- One team from the hook to the plinth. Where a crane lands the item, our crew carries on under the same contract and lift plan.
- Same-day prices. Photos and a desktop survey are enough for us to price a Teesside job within the day.
- 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 on Teesside often comes as part of a wider job, so we also offer:
How a lift and shift works
- Send the weight, the dimensions, both positions and photos of the route.
- We price from a desktop survey the same working day, and visit first if the route is tight or the floor unknown.
- We write the method statement, risk assessment and lift plan, and check the floor loading.
- The crew rigs the item, then lifts, moves and positions it.
- We set it down on its base, level it and hand it over for connection.
Common questions
Can you move a skid from between pipe racks where no crane can reach?
Yes. A gantry goes up over the skid, which is then skated out along a route measured against every pipe bridge. If the gap is too tight, the skid is split at its flanges.
Our building stands on reclaimed land. Will the floor take the load?
We find out before the price is fixed, from the drawings and the slab itself, and where records are thin we ask for cores or an engineer’s view. Mats or steel tracks then spread the load.
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 Teesside
- Phone: 01642 843 216
- Email: teesside@synergy-lifting.co.uk
Send the weight and dimensions with a few photos of the route, and we will come back with a price the same working day.
We also provide lift and shift in Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, Darlington and Durham. See all the lift and shift locations.