Crane Hire London

Cranes for London jobs

Tell us the weight, radius and access for your London job and we’ll recommend the right machine. Not sure where to start? Read our guide to what size crane you need.

Where we work in and around London

Most of our London crane hire work falls into a handful of sectors.

Commercial construction and refurbishment

Office, hotel and residential schemes across the City, Westminster, Southwark and Canary Wharf bring steel, precast, cladding, curtain walling and rooftop plant on sites with no spare ground, which is why so much of this work happens from the highway under a closure. See our construction sector page.

Building services and rooftop plant

Chiller, air handling unit and generator replacement on occupied commercial buildings is a large part of what we do here, usually overnight or on a Sunday, lifting over a building line from a closed street with the exclusion zone marshalled throughout. See our HVAC sector page.

Hospitals, universities and public buildings

London’s hospital and university estates are dense and always occupied. Our work on them is plant replacement, scanner and laboratory equipment moves and plant room strip-outs, planned around wards, entrances and pedestrian routes. See our healthcare and pharma and education sector pages.

Data centres and critical infrastructure

Chiller, generator and transformer handling for data centres around the capital and out along the M25, where the window is fixed, short and cannot overrun. See our data centre infrastructure page.

Industrial estates and the Lea Valley

The estates through the Lea Valley, out east and around the outer boroughs hold manufacturing, food production and trade operations. Typical jobs are machinery deliveries and installs, factory moves and plant removals. See our industrial sector page.

Rail, utilities and telecoms

Possession work on the rail network, substation equipment changes and mast and antenna lifts all come with fixed windows and exact timings. See our rail and telecoms sector pages.

Access and planning for lifts in London

Every site is different, but a few things come up again and again on London jobs:

• Vehicle compliance. The low emission and ultra low emission zones, the direct vision standard and, on most construction sites, CLOCS and FORS requirements all apply to the vehicles as well as the crane. We confirm that before the job rather than at the gate.
• Permissions. A street lift usually needs a highway licence or closure from the borough, and sometimes agreement from Transport for London or a neighbouring owner to oversail. Lead times vary by borough, so the earlier we have the address the better.
• Standing position and oversail. On most central sites there is one workable position. We work out the radius, the load path and what the boom passes over first, because that decides the machine.
• What is under the street. Basements, vaults, culverts and tunnels run beneath a lot of central pavements and carriageways. We confirm ground bearing and outrigger loads, and use mats or spreaders to suit.
• Noise and hours. Night and weekend working is often the only realistic option, and it comes with noise conditions and marshalling requirements that we plan for. Where a closure is needed we can arrange the traffic management and road closure as part of the job.

Postcodes and areas we cover

We cover every London postcode and the home counties around the M25:

• Central: the City, Clerkenwell, Holborn, Bloomsbury, Westminster and Covent Garden
• East and south east: Shoreditch, Hackney, Stratford, Canary Wharf, Southwark, Greenwich and Lewisham
• North and north west: Islington, Camden, Finsbury Park, Wood Green and Hampstead
• South west and west: Battersea, Wandsworth, Fulham, Kensington, Chiswick and Ealing
• Outer London and beyond: Croydon, Bromley, Kingston, Harrow, Wembley, Enfield, Romford, Uxbridge and out into Essex, Kent, Surrey and Hertfordshire

See all the areas we cover.

Why London firms choose Synergy Lifting for crane hire

• The paperwork is the job. Licences, closures, oversail agreements and vehicle compliance get sorted before the date, which is what keeps a London lift on programme.
• Out-of-hours as standard. A large share of our London work runs overnight or on a Sunday, with lighting, marshalling and noise conditions planned in.
• Qualified and accredited. CPCS and NPORS operators, lifts planned to BS 7121, and a business certified to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, with Constructionline Gold Member registration.
• One contractor for the whole lift. We can take on the lift plan, appointed person, RAMS, supervision and insurance.

More than cranes

Many London jobs need more than a lift, so we also offer:

• Machine movement
• Machine delivery and installation
• Factory relocation
• Industrial plant dismantling
• Steel erection and dismantling
• Plant room strip out
• Traffic management and road closures

How to book a crane

1. Send us the site location, load weight, access details and dates. Photos help.
2. We quote, usually the same working day. Complex lifts may need a site visit first.
3. For contract lifts we prepare the lift plan and RAMS. For CPA hire we advise on crane position and set-up.
4. We arrive on the agreed day and carry out the lift to BS 7121.

Common questions

How long does a road closure take to arrange?

It depends on the borough and the road. Some are a couple of weeks, others considerably longer, and a strategic road managed by Transport for London is different again. Tell us the address early and we’ll tell you what the lead time looks like.

Do your vehicles meet the London schemes?

Yes. Emission zone compliance, the direct vision standard and site requirements such as CLOCS and FORS are checked as part of the quote, and we’ll provide the evidence your principal contractor asks for.

Can you lift over a neighbouring building?

Often, yes, but it needs the neighbour’s agreement as well as a lift plan, because the boom or the load crosses their airspace. We work out the slewing radius early so you know whose agreement is needed before dates are fixed.

Get a quote for crane hire in London

• Phone: 020 8068 9512
• Email: london@synergy-lifting.co.uk

We also provide crane hire in Luton, Reading, Milton Keynes and Brighton. See all the areas we cover.