Steel Erection Stoke

Overview

Steel erection in Stoke-on-Trent and across Staffordshire

In Stoke, tile, tableware and sanitaryware makers add bays and plant platforms to old, low works buildings. Distribution operators on the A50 and A500 put in mezzanines and new sheds, and engineering firms on the city’s business parks extend their units. Old pit and marl-hole ground under many plots also shapes the crane set-up.

Alongside portal frames we put up lean-tos against old works walls and support steel for kilns and dryers, and we supply the cranes for larger buildings such as a new warehouse with a showroom and offices on two floors at the front. We work in all six towns, Tunstall and Burslem through to Fenton and Longton, and out to Kidsgrove, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Leek and Stone. Quotes for a new shed by the A50 are worked up from drawings and photographs, most of them inside the same working day.

What steel erection covers

The work runs from the frame itself, bolted up, lined and levelled, to its bracing and secondary steel, together with LFS and SFS framing. We dismantle existing steel too, often an old bay making way for a new kiln line. When a kiln is being replaced, we can move the new one in once its steel is up.

What we do

What we erect in Stoke

Structure	Where it goes up	What sets the method
Kiln hall platforms and plant support steel	Ceramics, tile and sanitaryware works in the six towns	The kilns firing either side of the new members
Mezzanines and pick floors	Distribution sheds on the A50 and A500	Racking and conveyors below, and the door the members come through
Portal frame units and extensions	Etruria Valley, Trentham Lakes and Festival Park	The sequence of set-ups from one gable to the other
Process platforms and walkways	Food factories across Staffordshire	Line equipment and wash-down areas around each column
Equipment frames and access steel	Recycling yards, substations and water treatment works	The outage window the operator sets
Old frames taken down	Works being reorganised or cleared	How the remaining steel stays stable as members come out

Our steel erection and dismantling service page covers the work in more depth.

Sectors

Where we work in and around Stoke

Stoke’s steel enquiries come from old works and new sheds alike.

Distribution sheds from Chatterley Valley to the A50

Mezzanine floors, new sheds and canopies over loading docks go up for warehouse and logistics operators, with the site working around us. See our construction sector page.

Kiln halls and older potbanks

Plant platforms, lean-to bays and support steel for new kilns and dryers go in at working potbanks and tile factories, fitted into the shutdown. See our industrial sector page.

Clinics, universities and schools

Plant decks and access steel are added to clinics and university blocks that stay open, and schools get small extensions in the holidays. See our healthcare and pharma and education pages.

Engineering units on the business parks

New portal frames and side extensions are put up for engineering, plastics and fabrication firms at Etruria Valley, Trentham Lakes and Festival Park. See our plastics and metals page.

Utility and recycling sites

Walkways and equipment frames are erected at recycling yards, substations and water treatment works around the county, inside the outage the operator sets. See our waste and recycling page.

Planning

Access and planning for steel erection in Stoke

Before a Stoke frame is priced, we look at these:

• Colliery and marl ground. Old pit spoil, filled marl holes and pottery tip can all sit under one plot. Ground bearing is checked at every crane position and the outrigger mats are sized to suit.
• The lift plan ahead of the steel. Crane positions and the pieces each one places are fixed before the fabricator finishes detailing, so heavy members can be split or sequenced to suit.
• Deliveries in erection order. Works yards in the six towns have little room to lay steel down, so wagons are booked one at a time and each is unloaded straight into the frame.
• Gusts and large surfaces. LFS panels and long purlins have to stop in a breeze the crane could work through, so the supervisor checks conditions at height before each one goes up.
• Closures from city or county. Stoke-on-Trent City Council handles roads inside the city, and Staffordshire County Council those in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Kidsgrove and the Moorlands. We apply to the right one and provide the traffic management and road closure.

Alterations

Alterations, mezzanines and dismantling

Before steel goes into a works that keeps firing, our survey records the columns and connections it will bolt to, and in an older Burslem or Longton building that survey often stands in for drawings nobody kept. Inside those low buildings a crane jib has no room, so members come through the yard door and are raised from the floor between the kilns.

Existing frames come down for a new layout or for reuse. The sequence keeps the remaining steel standing, with temporary props under anything a release would leave hanging, and match-marks go on every piece that will be erected again.

Coverage

Postcodes and areas we cover

We cover every ST postcode, from the six towns out to the Moorlands:

• Stoke-on-Trent: Hanley, Burslem, Tunstall, Longton, Fenton, Stoke, Trentham and Etruria
• West and south: Newcastle-under-Lyme, Stone, Eccleshall and Stafford
• North and east: Kidsgrove, Biddulph, Leek, Cheadle and the Staffordshire Moorlands
• Wider area: Crewe, Congleton, Macclesfield, Uttoxeter, Derby and Telford

We erect steel right across the UK.

Why Synergy

Why Stoke firms choose Synergy Lifting for steel erection

• Steel for ceramics works. Platforms and bays for new kilns and dryers go into pottery, tile and sanitaryware works, planned around the firing programme.
• Mezzanines for the A50 and A500 sheds. Mezzanine floors and new bays go into distribution sheds, with the steel routed round the racking.
• No handover between crane and gang. The operatives slinging each piece are the erectors who bolt it, working from the lift plan our appointed person wrote.
• 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

Other work we can add to a Stoke steel package:

• Crane hire in Stoke
• Lift and shift in Stoke
• Industrial plant dismantling in Stoke
• Factory relocation in Stoke
• Cladding and roofing
• Electric pick and carry crane hire
• Traffic management and road closures

Process

How a steel erection job works

1. 01

   Your drawings and steel schedule come first, along with where the site is and when the programme wants the steel.

2. 02

   Next we visit and note crane standings, the ground, how wagons reach the plot, where steel can be set down and any overhead lines.

3. 03

   Our appointed person plans each lift. A method statement and risk assessment follow, including the temporary bracing that holds the frame between stages.

4. 04

   With your fabricator we settle which pieces go on each wagon, and in what order.

5. 05

   Then the gang stands the steel and braces it, lines and levels the frame, and clears the way for the following trade.

FAQs

Common questions