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Lift and shift in Norwich and across Norfolk
We provide lift and shift in Norwich for engineering firms, food producers, laboratories, developers and energy businesses on the coast. It covers heavy or awkward items that a crane cannot reach or cannot place: transformers and switchgear into switchrooms, chillers, boilers and air handling units in and out of plant rooms, generators, machinery repositioned on a factory floor, tanks and process skids, and delicate laboratory equipment.
We work across Norwich, Thorpe St Andrew, Hellesdon, Costessey, Wymondham and Hethersett, and out to Dereham, Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and King’s Lynn. 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 and land them on their base, using gantries, skates, rollers, jacks and toe jacks. Some jobs start with a crane outside, and our crew handles the final placing.
What we lift and shift in Norwich
| Item | Where it usually is | How it moves |
|---|---|---|
| Transformers and switchgear | Switchrooms in commercial blocks and new developments | Jacked onto skates, turned at the doorway and lowered onto the plinth |
| Chillers and air handling units | Roof plant decks on newer office and residential schemes | Craned to roof level, then skated across boards to the base |
| Standby generators and UPS | Energy and data rooms on business parks | Skated in from the delivery door onto their mounts |
| Presses and production machinery | Factory units making room for a new line | Walked on skates between the machines that stay, then jacked down |
| Process skids and small tanks | Wash-down areas in Norfolk food factories | Rolled over a covered floor, then jacked up onto their feet |
| Display cabinets and delicate fittings | Shops and galleries in the centre | Padded dollies over boarded floors, with the doorways lined |
Give us the weight, the footprint and where it is going, and we will explain the method. Our lift and shift service page has the full process.
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 Norwich
Our lift and shift work around Norwich comes from six kinds of building.
Shops and offices in the centre
Inside the old city, heavy kit comes in through a shopfront or a side passage and then goes down to a cellar or up a floor. Display cabinets and switchgear panels both travel this way. See our HVAC sector page.
Laboratories and healthcare buildings
Research and clinical buildings around the city need lab and medical equipment moved between rooms while staff work next door. The route and any clean-area rules are agreed with the estates team first. See our healthcare and pharma page.
Food factories across the county
Norfolk is one of the most productive farming counties in the country. Its processing and packing sites move tanks and process skids when a line changes, inside hygiene areas and during a planned stop. See our food and beverages page.
Energy work on the coast
At Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, oil and gas firms and the offshore wind sector need switchgear and generators placed in quayside buildings. Some of it is outdoor work, skating an item across hardstanding onto a plinth. See our power and renewables and maritime pages.
Engineering and manufacturing units
Firms on Broadland Business Park and other estates nearby shuffle presses and machine tools to fit in new equipment, with the neighbouring bays still running. See our industrial sector page.
New buildings going up
Schemes on small city plots take their switchgear and rooftop plant at fit-out. We pick the item up where the crane leaves it and take it to its base. See our construction sector page.
Access and planning for a lift and shift in Norwich
Points we check on most Norwich jobs:
- Listed fabric. Many buildings in the medieval centre are listed, so a door frame or partition cannot come out without the owner’s agreement. We plan the route around what has to stay.
- Floors and ground. Old timber floors and cellars in the centre need checking before a heavy item crosses them, as does yard ground on the low-lying land by the Wensum and the Yare. We lay mats or steel tracks where the loading calls for it.
- Headroom and the way in. We measure clearance with the item on its skates or gantry, then every doorway and step on the way to the base.
- Buildings in use. We agree hours with the building manager and keep our route apart from staff and visitors.
- Loading in the street. Where the vehicle has to stand on a road or pavement, we arrange the traffic management and any closure with Norfolk County Council.
Getting it where it needs to go
Jobs run in any direction. New plant goes into a building or old plant comes out, and a swap does both in one visit. Plenty of work stays outside too, such as a transformer skated across a yard onto its plinth or a chiller moved along a roof.
Cellars in the old centre are reached by steep stairs, and older buildings there change level from room to room. Business park units add mezzanines and ramps, while newer offices bring raised floors and goods lifts smaller than the item. Gantries, jacks, rollers and skates get most things past, with a crane where it helps. When nothing fits, we strip back a frame and make it good, or take the item through in sections.
Postcodes and areas we cover
We cover every NR postcode across Norfolk and the Suffolk towns near it:
- Norwich: city centre, Thorpe St Andrew, Hellesdon, Costessey, Sprowston and Eaton
- South and west: Wymondham, Hethersett, Attleborough, Dereham and Watton
- North and east: Aylsham, North Walsham, Cromer, Caister and Great Yarmouth
- Wider area: King’s Lynn, Thetford, Diss, Lowestoft, Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich
We also lift and shift right across the UK.
Why Norwich firms choose Synergy Lifting for lift and shift
- One contract, outside and in. When a crane lands the item at a door or on a roof, our own crew moves it the rest of the way under a single lift plan.
- Shutdowns kept short. Food and engineering sites across Norfolk get a programme built around the hours their lines are stopped.
- Sensitive kit handled gently. Laboratory and clinical equipment around Norwich is moved slowly on padded gear.
- 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
Norwich jobs often need other services too, so we also offer:
How a lift and shift works
- Send the item’s weight and dimensions, where it sits now and where it has to end up, plus photos of the route.
- We price from a desktop survey within the working day, and visit first where the route is tight or the floor unknown.
- We write the method statement, risk assessment and lift plan, and run the floor loading checks.
- Our crew lifts the item, moves it along the route and positions it.
- It is set down, levelled and handed over to you.
Common questions
Can you move laboratory equipment while staff work in the next room?
Yes. The route and any clean-area rules are agreed with the estates team first, then the item travels on padded skates at a quiet time and is set down before people return.
Can you place rooftop plant on a new building with one way in?
Yes. The crane sets the unit on the roof deck from the single access point, and we skate it to its base on boards over the finished roof.
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 Norwich
- Phone: 01603 385 877
- Email: norwich@synergy-lifting.co.uk
Send us the weight, the dimensions and some photos of the route, and we will price it.
We also provide lift and shift in Ipswich, Cambridge, Peterborough and Grimsby. See all the lift and shift locations.