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Factory relocation in Plymouth and across south west Devon
Factory moves in Plymouth come from engineering and manufacturing firms at Faraday Mill, Burrington, Eurotech Park and Lee Mill. Marine engineering workshops on the waterfront and campus and healthcare estates teams call us too. We run the move from one point of contact: survey and asset register, decommissioning with your engineers and the equipment manufacturers, strip-out and dismantling, lifting the machinery out, packing, crating and transport, then offloading, reinstallation, levelling, setting to line and recommissioning.
We cover Plymouth, Plympton, Plymstock, Estover and Ivybridge, north to Yelverton and Tavistock, and over the Tamar to Saltash, Torpoint and Liskeard. Smaller relocations are priced the same working day from a desktop survey; bigger ones get a survey at both ends.
What a factory relocation covers
A relocation can take in a whole works or one department. Machines that are not going with you are sold on or scrapped, leaving the unit clear. Where the new building runs behind, equipment waits in our storage until the floor, bases and supplies are ready. CNC machine tools, presses, moulding machines, packing lines, conveyors and racking all travel this way.
Factory moves we plan in Plymouth
| Type of move | What sets the timetable | What we handle |
|---|---|---|
| Moving to a bigger or newer unit | Sign-off of the new unit’s floor and services | Two surveys, the load-out, the haulage and the rebuild |
| Bringing two sites onto one | Whether the receiving site takes the plant at once or in batches | A combined layout agreed first, then machines moved to suit it |
| A closure, with working plant going to a sister site in the UK or abroad | When the receiving plant can install | Decommissioning, crating for road or sea freight, clearance of the rest |
| Rearranging a factory within the same building | The output you hold while bays change | Skating and craning between bays, each machine aligned as it lands |
| A single line or department moving | The shutdown window production can release | Every section numbered, taken down, moved and rebuilt |
| A lease end forcing a move | When the building goes back | The unit cleared by that date, with storage for what the new site cannot take |
Our factory relocation service page runs through each stage.
Contact us
Get In Touch
Please leave a few details and a member of our factory relocation team will be in touch to discuss your requirements in more detail.
Where we work in and around Plymouth
Relocations here come from a spread of industries and estates.
Faraday Mill and the units near the centre
Engineering and building supply firms hold older and newer bays at Faraday Mill. When one outgrows its space, we measure the opening each machine came in through. See our industrial sector page.
Burrington, Eurotech Park and Lee Mill
North of the city and east beyond Plympton, presses, fabrication plant and whole production lines change address between these estates. A line moving out goes in sections, each marked up for its place in the new building.
Marine engineering on the waterfront
Machine shops beside the water run lathes, presses and heavy plant, craned out from the quayside or gantried through a workshop door. See our maritime sector page.
University, college and hospital departments
Laboratory kit, test rigs and workshop equipment move between campus and healthcare buildings inside a holiday shutdown, each landing in its marked position. See our education and healthcare and pharma pages.
Over the Tamar into south east Cornwall
Saltash, Torpoint and Liskeard are regular working area for us, and a works moving that way is planned as one job with its Plymouth end.
Access and planning for a factory move in Plymouth
Points we check on most Plymouth relocations:
- Everything runs on the A38. The Devon Expressway carries loads east and west, and the A386 runs north to Tavistock. A relocation means load after load, so the order and routes are fixed before the first machine moves.
- Bases, supplies and a way in at the new site. Floor, bases, power, air and a clear route to each position carry dates on the programme, checked as the move nears.
- Doors, headroom and the yard you are leaving. Openings in older waterfront buildings can be narrower than the machines inside, so whether a wall or roof panel comes out goes on the register.
- Ground and slabs at both addresses. Jacks and skates put weight through small points. Yards on the slopes above the water can be stepped or made up, so standings outside are checked with the floors inside.
- Working from the highway. Where loading takes part of a road or pavement, we arrange traffic management and road closure with Plymouth City Council, or Devon County Council or Cornwall Council outside it. Abnormal loads are notified where needed.
Keeping production going during the move
Nearly every relocation is built in stages. The first loads take the plant you can work without, and those machines are cutting again at the new address while the old floor keeps going. Heavy lifts are booked into a weekend or a planned stoppage to suit production.
Leaving one building and taking on the next rarely fall on the same date. Our storage bridges the gap and releases equipment once the bases have cured. A firm moving from the waterfront out to Lee Mill gets both ends in one programme, and anything it is not taking goes for sale or disposal on those visits.
Postcodes and areas we cover
We cover every PL postcode and the districts around the city:
- Plymouth: city centre, the Barbican, Stonehouse, Mutley, Greenbank, Ernesettle and St Budeaux
- Estates and outer districts: Faraday Mill, Estover, Plympton, Plymstock and Turnchapel
- North and east: Ivybridge, Lee Mill, Yelverton, Tavistock and Okehampton
- Cornwall: Saltash, Torpoint, Liskeard and Bodmin
- Wider area: Totnes and Kingsbridge
We relocate factories right across the UK and into Europe.
Why Plymouth firms choose Synergy Lifting for factory relocation
- At home on the city’s industrial estates. Machinery installs and factory moves at Faraday Mill, Burrington and the estates around them are typical of our work here.
- Everything logged before it moves. Each machine is numbered, photographed and given a position on the new layout, so every item has somewhere to go.
- No second contractor to book. The crane, rigging crew, lorries and reinstallation team all come from us, under one order and one contact.
- 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 factory relocation
Other parts of a Plymouth move we can take on:
How a factory relocation works
- Tell us both addresses, a rough machine count and the date production has to run again.
- We survey both sites and build the asset register, or price a smaller move from a desktop survey.
- Your quote arrives with a programme in move order, backed by method statements, risk assessments and lift plans.
- Our crew extracts, packs and transports each item in its planned slot.
- At the new site every machine is reinstalled, levelled, set to line and handed over for recommissioning.
Common questions
We are bringing two Plymouth units together on one site. Where does that start?
With a survey of each building involved, including the one you are keeping. Everything goes onto one asset register, and the move order is set by how fast the site staying open clears room.
Do you move laboratory and workshop equipment from campus and hospital buildings?
Yes. Test rigs, analysers and workshop machinery travel a route walked with the estates team first, and larger jobs go into a holiday shutdown. Each item lands in its marked position, ready to reconnect.
Can we keep producing while we move?
In most cases, yes, for part of the plant. We move the lines you can spare first and get them running at the new site, then bring the rest across. It means more visits, and it keeps output going while the move is under way. We tell you at survey which parts can overlap.
How are disconnection and recommissioning handled?
We agree who does what at survey and write it into the programme. It is a mix of our crew, your maintenance team and the equipment manufacturers, and everyone knows their part before the first machine moves. Recommissioning is done with your engineers or the manufacturer.
Get a quote for factory relocation in Plymouth
- Phone: 01752 712 008
- Email: plymouth@synergy-lifting.co.uk
Send us both addresses, a rough machine count and the date production has to restart, and we will set out how the move could run.
We also provide factory relocation in Exeter, Swansea, Cardiff and Newport. See all the factory relocation locations.