Steel Erection Edinburgh

Packages

Steel + more

Cladding, roofing and demolition too

Coverage

Edinburgh

EH postcodes

Quotes

Same day

For most enquiries

Overview

Steel erection in Edinburgh and across the Lothians

Edinburgh steel comes in two kinds. In the Old and New Towns it is small frames, rear extensions and rooftop plant steel on tight plots between stone frontages, lifted in by a compact crane from the street. On the west side at Edinburgh Park, South Gyle and Sighthill, and down at Leith and Granton, there is room for portal frame units, canopies and mezzanines in trade buildings.

We erect all of these, and on the western estates a frame can carry floors of offices above a trade counter. We work across the city from Leith to Liberton, and out to Musselburgh, Dalkeith, Livingston and across the Forth into Fife. With drawings and photographs in hand, a plain portal frame shed is usually priced the same working day.

What steel erection covers

The work is the steel your fabricator supplies, erected and bolted, then plumbed and braced, with secondary steel and light gauge LFS or SFS framing. Old frames come down too, whether a Leith shed is being cleared or a storage floor is following its tenant to a new unit.

What we do

What we erect in Edinburgh

Structure	Where it goes up	What sets the method
Rear extensions and small infill frames	Tight plots in the Old and New Towns	How new steel bears on old stone walls
Roof platforms and plant support steel	Offices at Edinburgh Park and South Gyle	Load paths into the structure below
Portal frame units and canopies	Trade estates at Sighthill and Newbridge	Crane standings along the length of the building
Mezzanines and storage floors	Warehouse and trade units	Getting members past racking and through the door
Light gauge framing (LFS and SFS)	Schemes near the Waterfront	Which floors are open to the crane at each stage
Steel taken down for re-erection	Units being refitted for a new tenant	Stability of retained bays, and match-marking

Our steel erection and dismantling service page covers the work stage by stage.

Get a quote

Tell us about your project

Send us the details and we will come back with a quote, usually the same day for a desktop survey.

Or call 0131 608 0165

Sectors

Where we work in and around Edinburgh

Edinburgh steel work splits across these areas.

Trade units at Sighthill and Newbridge

Portal frame units, extra bays and mezzanine floors go up for trade and engineering firms on the estates near the bypass and the M8. See our industrial sector page.

Stone-built streets of the centre

Rear extensions, lightwell infills and rooftop frames go into tenements, offices and shops behind listed frontages, with the new steel seated on the old walls where your engineer allows.

Manufacturing sheds across the Forth

Manufacturing and engineering sheds in Fife, some serving renewable energy, take extensions, platform steel and equipment frames. See our power and renewables page.

Offices on Edinburgh Park

Roof platforms and support frames for replacement chillers, air handling units and generators are erected on offices that stay occupied below. See our HVAC page.

Beside the tram and rail lines

Platform canopies and equipment frames for the tram and railway go in during possessions, with the clearance from the overhead wires fixed before the crane arrives. See our rail sector page.

New build from Leith to Granton

Frames, canopies and light gauge framing go up on residential and commercial schemes built on former dock and industrial land beside the Forth. See our construction sector page.

Planning

Access and planning for steel erection in Edinburgh

Before an Edinburgh frame gets a start date, we settle these:

August and the City of Edinburgh Council. A crane or trailer on a central street needs a council closure, and the festival limits central access, so we apply early and provide the traffic management and road closure. Near the tram, we settle the clearance from the overhead line, or an isolation, before the date is fixed.
Ground that changes street to street. A crane in the centre can stand over bedrock on one job and a filled-in cellar on the next, and much of the land at Leith was won from the sea, so each outrigger position is checked and matted.
Steel with nowhere to land. Central plots have no lay-down, so each trailer carries members in lifting order and arrives in a booked slot, routed round the A720 city bypass.
One standing position, planned first. Our appointed person fixes where the crane stands and what it can place from there while the steel is still being detailed, so the fabricator can split pieces to suit.
No bay left loose overnight. Each break in the work leaves a stable part-frame, with temporary braces or guys wherever the permanent bracing is not yet in.

Alterations

Alterations, mezzanines and dismantling

When a Sighthill trade unit adds a storage floor, the counter stays open while the steel goes in. We survey the frame the new steel joins, so connections are checked before anything is fabricated. The unit’s roof leaves no route in for a crane, so members are walked through the loading door and lifted clear of the counter.

Taking steel down gets the same planning. The sequence keeps the remaining frame standing as each member is released, and any piece going back up is match-marked before it is unbolted, ready to be rebuilt as it stood.

Coverage

Postcodes and areas we cover

We cover every EH postcode and the Lothian districts around the city:

Edinburgh: Old Town, New Town, Stockbridge, Leith, Granton, Newhaven, Portobello, Marchmont, Newington and Morningside
West and south: Corstorphine, Sighthill, South Gyle, Fairmilehead, Gilmerton and Liberton
The Lothians: Musselburgh, Dalkeith, Tranent, Penicuik, Kirkliston and Livingston
Wider area: Bathgate, Falkirk, Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, Haddington and Galashiels

We erect steel right across the UK.

Why Synergy

Why Edinburgh firms choose Synergy Lifting for steel erection

Western estates we already know. Crane work at Sighthill and South Gyle is steady for us, and we put up frames, bays and storage floors there as well.
Frames for the Waterfront’s new buildings. Canopies, infill framing and light gauge walls go up on schemes from Leith to Granton.
The erectors do their own rigging. Whoever slings a member also bolts it home, working to the lift plan our appointed person drew up for that frame.
Qualified and accredited. CPCS and CSCS carded operatives, lifts planned to BS 7121 by an appointed person, 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.

Services

More than steel erection

An Edinburgh steel package can draw on these as well:

Process

How a steel erection job works

Tell us the site address and the dates set for the steel, and send the drawings with the steel schedule.
Our lift planner checks crane positions, ground, the delivery approach, lay-down space and any overhead or tram wires on site.
That visit becomes the appointed person’s lift plan, and the method statement and risk assessment written from it set out temporary stability.
The fabricator receives our sequence and packs the loads to match.
Once the gang has erected, braced, lined and levelled the steel, the frame goes over to the next trade.

FAQs

Common questions

Our extension is behind a listed frontage in the New Town. Where does the crane go?

On the street, at the one position that reaches the plot, with a compact crane chosen for it. We settle that position at quote stage, then apply for the closure and design the lifts around it.

Our Edinburgh Park office needs a roof platform for new chillers. Can the steel go in over a weekend?

Often, yes. The roof it bears on is surveyed with your engineer beforehand, and the lifting runs across Saturday and Sunday in the hours the building manager allows.

Who plans the lifts?

We do. An appointed person plans every lift to BS 7121: where the crane stands, what it can place from each position, and how the frame stays stable at every break in the work. The same gang then rigs and erects to that plan.

Can you erect steel where a crane cannot reach?

Yes. Mezzanines and internal platforms go up with gantries, jacking equipment and our electric pick and carry crane, which works indoors without fumes. The steel comes in through a door and is lifted into place inside the building.