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Lift and shift in Newcastle and across Tyneside
We provide lift and shift in Newcastle for building owners, manufacturers, engineering firms, hospitals and universities on both banks of the Tyne. The work is moving heavy or awkward items where a crane cannot reach or cannot do the final placing: switchgear into a switchroom, a boiler out of a basement, a press moved along a factory floor, or laboratory equipment taken up a floor.
We cover Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, North Shields, Wallsend, Washington, Cramlington and Ponteland, and out into Northumberland. Send us the details and photos and we can price it the same working day from a desktop survey.
What lift and shift covers
Lift and shift is lifting, lowering, turning and positioning a heavy item with no crane hook over it at the end. Our crews use gantries, skates, rollers, jacks and toe jacks. On plenty of jobs a crane outside lands the load at the door and we carry on from there.
What we lift and shift in Newcastle
| Item | Where it usually is | How it moves |
|---|---|---|
| Transformers and switchgear | Substations and switchrooms across Tyneside | Jacked onto skates, turned in the room and lowered onto the plinth |
| Boilers and chillers | Basement plant rooms under older city-centre buildings | Down a pavement hatch on a gantry, then rolled to the base |
| Standby generators and UPS | Energy centres in hospital and office buildings | Skated along the service corridor and levelled on its mounts |
| Tanks and process skids | Manufacturing plants at Cramlington and Washington | Toe jacks and rollers onto a new plinth inside the same hall |
| Laboratory and medical equipment | Clinical and research floors above a small goods lift | Low-headroom gantry under a corridor ceiling, then padded skates |
| Display cabinets and heavy fittings | Museums, galleries and shops in the centre | Hand rollers over sheeted floors, a few metres at a time |
Send the weight, the size and both positions, and we will work out the method. There is more on our lift and shift service page.
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 Newcastle
Our lift and shift work in Newcastle comes from these kinds of buildings.
Plant rooms in city-centre buildings
City-centre offices and hotels keep their chillers and air handling units on the roof or below the pavement, often behind a single service door. A crane lands the new unit and our crew takes it the last stretch to its base. See our HVAC and construction pages.
Factory floors on Team Valley and the Gateshead estates
Firms on the Gateshead estates reposition machinery inside their units to fit a new line or free up a bay, while the rest of the floor keeps producing. See our industrial sector page.
Works and switchrooms by the river
Engineering and offshore firms still work from the riverbanks east of the centre. Here tanks and skids go onto new plinths, and switchgear is changed in the switchrooms that feed the works. See our maritime and power and renewables pages.
Hospital buildings
Newcastle’s hospital estate replaces plant and medical equipment in buildings that never close, on routes and hours agreed with the estates team. See our healthcare and pharma page.
University and college laboratories
Teaching and research buildings bring laboratory equipment and standby generators to move in the vacations. Some older departments reach their plant room by one stair. See our education sector page.
Equipment rooms beside the railway
Switchgear and transformers in lineside buildings on the East Coast Main Line and the Metro are changed inside a possession, so the equipment has to be in and set down before the line is handed back. See our rail sector page.
Access and planning for a lift and shift in Newcastle
Points we check on most Newcastle jobs:
- Cellars and made ground. Older buildings in Grainger Town and on the Quayside can have cellars under the footway, and riverside plots sit on reclaimed land. We find out what lies below the unloading point first.
- Floor loading. Skates and jacks put the whole weight through small points, so we check each slab on the route and lay mats or steel tracks where needed.
- Headroom and the route in. We measure clearance with the item on the equipment, and every door, landing and turn between the lorry and the base.
- Buildings in use. Hospitals and offices keep working, so hours and noise are agreed with the building’s managers.
- Space at the kerb. Bus lanes and narrow central streets leave little room for a lorry. We can arrange traffic management and apply to Newcastle City Council or Gateshead Council for the space.
Getting it where it needs to go
A Newcastle job can run into a building, out of one, or both in one visit when the old boiler leaves and the new one arrives. Some stay outside: a transformer taken across a works yard onto its plinth, a tank moved between buildings, or a unit skated across a roof after the crane sets it down.
Grainger Town brings stone stairs and small goods lifts, Team Valley units have mezzanines, and hospitals add ramps and level changes. Gantries, jacks, rollers and skates get past these, with a crane where it saves a stage. 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 NE postcode across Tyneside and Northumberland, including:
- NE1 to NE7: city centre, the Quayside, Jesmond, Gosforth, Heaton, Byker and Walker
- NE8 to NE13: Gateshead, Team Valley, Dunston, Longbenton, Killingworth and Wideopen
- NE15 to NE24: Denton, Throckley, Ponteland, Cramlington and Blyth
- NE25 to NE38: Whitley Bay, Tynemouth, North Shields, Wallsend, South Shields, Jarrow, Hebburn and Washington
- NE61 to NE71: Morpeth, Ashington, Alnwick and north Northumberland
We also lift and shift right across the UK.
Why Newcastle firms choose Synergy Lifting for lift and shift
- At home in buildings that stay open. Wards and offices carry on while we work around them.
- One lift plan from street to base. The same team plans and runs the crane lift outside and the move inside, so nothing is passed between contractors.
- Clear notice of what we need. The quote sets out what the move needs from you, from working hours to any permits, so nothing is left to 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 in Newcastle can be one part of a wider project, so we also offer:
How a lift and shift works
- Tell us what the item weighs and measures, where it sits and where it has to go, with photos of the way between.
- We price from a desktop survey the same working day, visiting first if the route is tight or the floor unknown.
- We prepare the method statement, risk assessment and lift plan, and check the floor loading along the route.
- Our crew lifts the item, moves it and puts it in position.
- We set it down, level it and hand it over for connection.
Common questions
Can you get plant into an older building in Grainger Town?
Yes. Narrow doors and stone stairs are common there, so we measure the route and decide whether the item goes in whole or in sections, with the finishes protected throughout. Removing a frame is agreed with you and the owner first.
Can you swap a chiller on a hospital roof while the wards stay open?
Yes. We agree the hours with the estates team, the crane lands the new unit on the roof, and our crew skates it to the frame while the old one comes down the same way.
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 Newcastle
- Phone: 0191 622 2567
- Email: newcastle@synergy-lifting.co.uk
Email us the weight and dimensions with a few photos of the route, and we will send a price back.
We also provide lift and shift in Sunderland, Durham, Hartlepool and Teesside. See all the lift and shift locations.