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Lift and shift in Preston and across Lancashire
We provide lift and shift in Preston for hospitals, universities, food producers, engineering firms and builders across central Lancashire. The service moves heavy or awkward items where a crane cannot reach or cannot do the final placing: transformers and switchgear into switchrooms, chillers, boilers, air handling units and generators in and out of plant rooms and basements, machinery repositioned inside a factory, tanks and process skids, and delicate items such as display cabinets and laboratory equipment. Some older buildings near the centre are former cotton mills, and we look at their floors before we price.
We work across Preston, Fulwood, Penwortham, Bamber Bridge, Lostock Hall, Leyland, Chorley, Longridge and Kirkham. Send photos and the weight and we can price it the same working day.
What lift and shift covers
Lift and shift means raising, lowering, turning and travelling a heavy item to its final position without a crane hook doing the placing, using gantries, skates, rollers, jacks and toe jacks. On plenty of jobs a crane sets the item down outside and the shift starts there.
What we lift and shift in Preston
| Item | Where it usually is | How it moves |
|---|---|---|
| Transformers and switchgear | Switchrooms in hospital, campus and commercial buildings | Raised onto skates, walked through the doorway and lowered onto the plinth |
| Chillers, boilers and air handling units | Basement and rooftop plant rooms around the city centre | Lifted at the opening on a gantry, then skated to the base over mats |
| Standby generators and UPS | Plant rooms in offices, hospitals and new commercial units | Rolled in from the loading door and set level on anti-vibration mounts |
| Machinery moved to a new bay | Engineering and trade units at Bamber Bridge and Lostock Hall | Toe jacks under the base, then rollers to its new spot under the same roof |
| Laboratory and medical equipment | Research labs and clinical departments | Low-headroom gantry and skates between rooms, on protected floors |
| Display cabinets and heavy fittings | Shops and public buildings in the centre | Padded rollers and hand skates, moved slowly with every surface covered |
Our lift and shift service page has more on how the work is done.
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 Preston
Our lift and shift work around Preston comes from six kinds of building.
Hospital plant rooms and clinical areas
Hospital sites around the city replace plant and bring in medical equipment while patients are treated nearby. Route and hours are agreed with the estates team. See our healthcare and pharma page.
University and college buildings
Teaching and research buildings hold labs and plant rooms, some reached only by a service corridor or a small goods lift. Summer, after lectures finish, is the busy period. See our education sector page.
Food production and cold stores off the M6 and M65
Food producers and chilled warehouses beside the motorways move process tanks and skids inside hygiene areas during a planned shutdown. See our food and beverages page.
Red Scar, Roman Road and Walton Summit
Engineering and fabrication firms here ask us to slide a machine across the floor or lift a tank onto a mezzanine, with the rest of the unit still working. See our industrial sector page.
City-centre offices and shops
Older commercial buildings around Fishergate replace basement and rooftop plant with the doors still open, the new unit skated in from the kerb. See our HVAC sector page.
Switchrooms for Cottam and Buckshaw
New homes and business units at Cottam and Buckshaw need transformers and switchgear set into substations during the build, sometimes before the access road is finished. See our power and renewables page.
Access and planning for a lift and shift in Preston
Points we check on most Preston jobs:
- Mill buildings and old floors. Many of Preston’s cotton mills now hold offices, workshops and flats. Our survey covers how each floor was built and where its beams run, and the route follows the beams.
- What sits under the route. Skates and jacks put the whole weight through a few small points. We check for cellars, voids or service trenches below and lay mats or steel tracks where the slab needs help.
- Headroom and the way in. We measure clearance with the item on the equipment, plus each doorway, corner and step between the lorry and the base.
- Buildings that stay open. Wards and shop floors carry on around us, so moves fit hours agreed with the site team.
- Standing the lorry. Where the lorry needs road or footway space, we arrange traffic management or a road closure with Lancashire County Council or Preston City Council.
Getting it where it needs to go
A Preston job can run in any direction: new plant into a building, old plant out, or a swap of old for new in one visit. Some never go indoors, such as a transformer taken across a yard to its plinth or a unit set on a roof after a crane lifts it.
Inside, expect stone stairs and small goods lifts in older buildings, mezzanines on the estates, ramps down to hospital basements and raised floors in comms rooms. Gantries, jacks, rollers and skates get most items past these, with a crane where it helps. If 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 PR postcode across Preston and central Lancashire:
- Preston: city centre, Deepdale, Ribbleton, Fulwood, Ingol, Ashton and Cottam
- South of the Ribble: Penwortham, Lostock Hall, Bamber Bridge, Walton-le-Dale, Leyland, Buckshaw and Chorley
- West towards the Fylde: Kirkham, Wesham, Freckleton and Lytham
- North and east: Longridge, Garstang and Clitheroe
- Wider area: Blackburn, Accrington, Southport and Lancaster
We also lift and shift right across the UK.
Why Preston firms choose Synergy Lifting for lift and shift
- Answers from photos. Pictures of the item and the route are enough for a method and a date.
- Crane outside, crew inside, one plan. The crane lift at your door and the move to the base run under a single method statement.
- At ease on hospital and campus sites. Wards and labs around Preston stay in use while we work.
- 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 Preston often ties in with other work, so we also offer:
How a lift and shift works
- Tell us the weight, dimensions, current and final positions, and send photos of the route.
- We price it the same working day from a desktop survey, visiting first if the route is tight or the floor unknown.
- We produce the method statement, risk assessment and lift plan, and check the floor loading along the way.
- Our crew lifts the item, moves it and puts it in position.
- It is set down on its base, levelled and handed over.
Common questions
How do you check an old mill floor before moving plant across it?
We study the column grid and any drawings the owner holds, then plan the route along the strongest line and spread the load with steel plates. If the floor still cannot take it, the item comes through in sections.
Can you reposition a machine in a Walton Summit unit while the rest keeps running?
Yes. We barrier off the route and the new bay, move the machine on toe jacks and skates, and the other lines keep working around us.
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 Preston
- Phone: 01253 928 180
- Email: preston@synergy-lifting.co.uk
Give us the weight and dimensions of the item, with photos of the route in, and we will send a price back.
We also provide lift and shift in Blackpool, Wigan, Warrington and Manchester. See all the lift and shift locations.