Contents
Plant room strip out in Sunderland and across Tyne and Wear
We strip out plant rooms in Sunderland for the vehicle and battery supply chain, the estates around Washington, offices in the centre and at Doxford, and the hospital, college and school estates. Redundant boilers, chillers, air handling units, pumps, tanks, generators and switchgear go off site with us, and the replacement is set on its bases. Our dates come from the M&E contractor.
We cover Sunderland and Washington, Pallion, Southwick and Doxford, Houghton-le-Spring and Hetton-le-Hole, and south to Seaham and Peterlee, with Darlington the nearest of our depots to Wearside. Shots of the plant room and its route down to a Wearside street feed a desktop survey, which gives you a price the same working day. Much of this goes in after the building closes for the day.
What a strip out covers
Each item is cut or unbolted down to what the doors, lifts and stairs will take, then carried out. The same crew brings the new plant in and levels it. Connections and commissioning are for the M&E contractor.
What comes out of a Sunderland plant room
| Plant | Where it sits | How it comes out |
|---|---|---|
| Pressurisation sets, pumps and tanks | Basement tank rooms and risers | Lifted on jacks and skated to the door |
| Boilers and calorifiers | Lower floors and basements | Casing and burner off, shell parted at its joints, skated out |
| Chillers and condensers | Roofs and fenced yard compounds | Craned off in one where the jib reaches, or reduced to modules |
| Air handling units | Roof decks and internal rooms | Coil and fan sections separated at the frame |
| Generators, transformers and switchgear | Energy centres and switchrooms | Lifted onto skates and gantried clear |
| Redundant pipework and steelwork | Through the room and up the risers | Cold cut and bundled to a carryable size |
A pump buried behind a riser can be harder work than a boiler that clears every door, so the worst journey out sets the method. The plant room strip out service page sets out the stages.
Contact us
Get In Touch
Please leave a few details and a member of our plant room strip out team will be in touch to discuss your requirements in more detail.
Where we work in and around Sunderland
Wearside sends us plant room work off its manufacturing side first, with the public estate behind it.
Vehicle manufacturing and the battery supply chain
Boiler houses, chiller sets and compressor rooms serving vehicle and component production empty inside a fixed shutdown, and the sectioning and the load-out are planned back from the hour the lines restart. See our automotive page.
Washington and the A19 estates
Boiler rooms, pump sets and rooftop cooling come out of units that stop while any of it changes, so the work is sized to the shutdown already booked. See our industrial sector page.
The Wear and the port
Heating plant, compressors and standby sets come out of the workshops and cargo sheds along the Wear, on days that keep the berths clear. See our maritime page.
Offices at Doxford and in the centre
Roof cooling and basement boilers are swapped with tenants still above, so the goods lift is shared and the landlord signs off the noisy hours. See our HVAC page.
Health and education buildings
Nothing here can lose heat or cooling overnight, so the new unit is proven while the old one still stands, and on the education estate it all has to land inside a holiday. More on our healthcare and pharma and education pages.
Access and planning for a Sunderland plant room strip out
Settled with the building and the M&E contractor before a date is agreed:
- Working around the people in the building. We agree with the building manager when we can work, including out of hours, how much noise is allowed, which lift is booked for us and how the route is protected.
- Floors and yards on the way out. The whole weight goes through a few small skate contact points. Riverside plots are made ground, and there are worked-out coal seams beneath the towns west of the city.
- Roof lift, or a route through the building. Over the parapet, the money goes on the machine and the closure. Inside, it goes on labour, lift bookings and floor protection.
- The standing position and the street outside. Lifting over the building takes a lane or part of a car park, with space beside it to land the plant. The traffic management and road closure goes in with Sunderland City Council, or Durham County Council at Seaham and Peterlee.
- How far the units come apart. Panel joints and sectional shells fix the smallest piece we can make, and the weight left in the biggest brings in a crane.
Before anything is lifted
Other trades sign three things off first. Where a line shutdown is booked, your M&E contractor switches the plant off, drains it and locks the valves, then confirms in writing that it is dead and empty. An F-gas certified engineer deals with the refrigerant, and our dates sit behind that certificate. Asbestos picked up by a refurbishment and demolition survey is cleared by a licensed contractor before we are on site.
All three go into the programme beside our own dates at quoting stage. If one lands late, the building manager and your M&E contractor get the revised dates from us in advance.
Postcodes and areas we cover
Plant room work comes from across the SR postcodes and the towns around them:
- Sunderland: city centre, Monkwearmouth, Roker, Seaburn, Southwick, Pallion, Sunniside, Silksworth and Doxford
- West: Washington, Penshaw, Houghton-le-Spring, Hetton-le-Hole and Chester-le-Street
- South and coast: Ryhope, Seaham, Murton, Easington and Peterlee
- Wider area: Gateshead, South Shields, Newcastle, Durham and Hartlepool
We strip out plant rooms right across the UK.
Why Sunderland firms choose Synergy Lifting for plant room strip out
- A surveyor can be on site quickly. Our Darlington depot is a short run up the A19, so where photographs leave a question open, someone walks the route instead.
- The quote says where our scope ends. What we take out and set in place is written against what stays with the M&E contractor.
- One contract. It covers the crane, the rigging and landing the new plant.
- 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 plant room strip out
Other work that goes with a Sunderland strip out:
How a plant room strip out works
- Describe the plant, where the room sits and what the way out looks like.
- Someone surveys the room and the route and marks where each unit splits.
- The lift plan, method statement and risk assessment come next, timed round the isolation work.
- Our crew takes the plant apart and runs it out to the wagons.
- Our crew lands the replacement, gets it level and hands it over for connection.
Common questions
We are changing rooftop plant on a Doxford office. Where does the crane go?
On a closed part of the car park or service road, far enough back to clear the building line. A Sunday slot keeps parking clear in the week.
The building is at Seaham. Who grants the road closure?
Durham County Council covers Seaham and Peterlee, Sunderland City Council the city and Washington. We apply either way and build the notice period in.
Can the building stay open while the plant comes out?
Usually, yes. Most of this work happens in buildings that keep running, so the route is protected, the hours are agreed with the building manager, and the heavy moves go at night or over a weekend where that suits everyone. On a heating or cooling system the building cannot lose, the new plant goes in and is proven before the old plant comes out.
Who isolates and drains the plant before you start?
Your M&E contractor, with the isolation, drain down and lock-off signed off in writing before we cut anything. Refrigerant recovery belongs to an F-gas certified engineer and asbestos to a licensed contractor, so we plan our dates around both. We agree at quoting stage who is covering what.
Get a quote for a plant room strip out in Sunderland
- Phone: 0191 313 0049
- Email: sunderland@synergy-lifting.co.uk
What we need is the plant, the floor the room is on and whether it is being replaced, plus pictures of every stair, door and lift on the way to the street or the riverside yard.
We also provide plant room strip out in Newcastle, Durham, Hartlepool and Teesside. See all the plant room strip out locations.