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Factory relocation in Cambridge and across Cambridgeshire
The plant we move around Cambridge belongs to research and technology firms on the parks, to engineering businesses at Cherry Hinton and Milton, and to processors out in the Fens. We run the move from one point of contact: survey and asset register, disconnection and decommissioning with your engineers and the equipment makers, strip-out and dismantling, lifting the machinery out, packing, crating and transport, then offloading, reinstallation, levelling, setting to line and recommissioning.
The area runs from Cambridge and Trumpington out through Cherry Hinton, Milton and Histon to Ely, St Ives, Huntingdon and Newmarket. Smaller moves are priced the same working day from a desktop survey.
What a factory relocation covers
A move can be a whole factory or one department, covering CNC machine tools, presses, injection moulding machines, packing lines, conveyors, process tanks and racking. Machines you are leaving behind go for sale or disposal on the same visits, and where the new building runs late, equipment waits in our storage. It runs as one turnkey contract, from first survey to the day the plant runs again.
Factory moves we plan in Cambridge
| Type of move | What sets the timetable | What we handle |
|---|---|---|
| Moving to a bigger or newer unit | Services live and bases cured at the new unit | Both addresses surveyed, then extraction, transport and set-out |
| Bringing two sites onto one | The last production run at the closing site | One asset register, arrivals ordered to keep the working floor clear |
| A closure, with working plant going to a sister site in the UK or abroad | Freight booking and start-up at the receiving plant | Making the plant safe, cases built for the journey, surplus cleared |
| A single line or department moving | A quiet week in the order book | Dismantling, crating and a rebuild to the original layout drawings |
| A lease end forcing a move | How long is left on the lease | Everything out by then, with storage if the new building is late |
Our factory relocation service page goes 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 Cambridge
Relocations around Cambridge come from a few parts of the local economy.
Pharmaceutical and laboratory production
Process skids, fermenters, freezers and filling equipment move when a business takes a bigger building or sends a line to a sister site. Each item is logged, wrapped and set down on its measured position. See our healthcare and pharma page.
Units on the science and business parks
Instrument and electronics manufacturers on the parks north and west of the city run test rigs, benches, production cells and clean areas. When one takes more space, equipment crosses in the order the rooms come into use. See our data centre infrastructure page.
Engineering units at Cherry Hinton and Milton
Machine shops take CNC tools, presses, compressors and racking with them when a unit gets too small. Narrow doors and short yards are common, so the way out of each machine is settled before dates go in the programme. See our industrial sector page.
Processing sites across the Fens
Sites around Ely and Soham move grading lines, packing equipment, conveyors, tanks and silos. Stainless work is cleaned down and wrapped, then rebuilt to pass your hygiene sign-off. See our food and beverages page.
Firms leaving the city for more floor space
A business that outgrows a Cambridge unit often takes a newer building at Huntingdon, St Ives, St Neots or Newmarket. Both addresses sit in one programme.
Access and planning for a factory move in Cambridge
Points we check on most Cambridge relocations:
- Timing heavy loads on the A14. Machinery reaches the city on the A14 and M11, then comes in on the A10 or A428. The A14 is the pinch point, so load times are built around it and the route checked for low bridges.
- The new site, dated item by item. Floor, machine bases, power, air and a clear way in each carry a date on the programme, checked off as the move nears.
- Doors, yards and roof panels. Shutter widths, headroom under beams, turning space and whether a roof panel can come off decide how each machine leaves.
- Point loads on old and new floors. Skates and jacks push their weight through small areas. Ground around the city is low-lying, and peat or made ground carries far less than it looks, so crane standings are checked with the slabs.
- Cambridgeshire County Council and wide loads. Where loading takes part of a road or pavement, we arrange the traffic management and road closure with the county council, and notify abnormal loads where needed.
Keeping production going during the move
A phased relocation keeps orders going out. The lines you can spare cross first and are producing at the new address before the rest follows, and heavier lifts drop into a weekend or a planned shutdown. On the science parks the programme is written room by room, each one proved before the next is emptied.
When the new floor is not ready on the day you leave, our storage holds the plant in between until the bases have cured. Anything you are not taking goes for sale or disposal on the same visits.
Postcodes and areas we cover
We cover every CB postcode and the districts around the city:
- Cambridge: city centre, Chesterton, Newnham, Cherry Hinton and Trumpington
- Around the city: Milton, Histon, Waterbeach, Great Shelford, Sawston and Linton
- North and east: Ely, Soham, Newmarket and Haverhill
- Wider area: St Ives, Huntingdon, St Neots, Royston, Saffron Walden and Bury St Edmunds
We relocate factories right across the UK and into Europe.
Why Cambridge firms choose Synergy Lifting for factory relocation
- A register your own team can follow. Every machine is measured, photographed and numbered before anything moves, with its route out and new position recorded against it.
- Commissioning taken area by area. Where a Cambridge building is proved one room at a time, the move order follows that sequence and the equipment makers get a slot in it.
- Everything under one agreement. Crane, rigging crew, lorries, storage and the fitters who set each machine to line all come from us.
- 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
A Cambridge relocation can draw on the rest of what we do:
How a factory relocation works
- Tell us both addresses, roughly how many machines there are and when production has to run again.
- We walk both buildings and build the asset register. A smaller move is quoted the same working day from a desktop survey.
- The price arrives with a programme in move order, plus method statements, risk assessments and lift plans.
- Our crew strips out, packs and loads each item to that order.
- At the far end each machine is positioned, levelled, set to line and handed over for recommissioning.
Common questions
Our machines are wide. Does the A14 decide when they travel?
It often decides the hour more than the day. Wide and heavy loads travel when the road is quiet, on a route set by bridge heights and weight limits, with notification where one is needed.
Can you survey a unit we are considering north west of the city?
Yes, and it pays to do it early. A survey shows whether each machine has a way in, what the floor will take and where the supplies land, in hand before you sign rather than after.
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 Cambridge
- Phone: 01223 790 068
- Email: cambridge@synergy-lifting.co.uk
Send us both addresses, a rough machine count and the date production has to restart, and we will come back with how the move should run.
We also provide factory relocation in Peterborough, Luton, Milton Keynes and Northampton. See all the factory relocation locations.