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Factory relocation in Durham and across County Durham
Relocations in Durham start on the estates at Newton Aycliffe, Spennymoor and Consett, where engineering firms sit beside automotive supply, chemicals and specialist production. We run the whole move from one point of contact: survey and asset register, disconnection and decommissioning with your engineers and the equipment manufacturers, strip-out and dismantling, lifting out, packing and crating, transport, then positioning, reinstallation, levelling, setting to line and recommissioning, elsewhere in the county or in mainland Europe.
We are based in Darlington and cover Durham city, Chester-le-Street, Stanley, Consett, Crook, Bishop Auckland, Spennymoor and Barnard Castle. A desktop survey and quote can come back the same working day.
What a factory relocation covers
We handle it as a turnkey job, whether that is the whole plant or one department. Machines you are leaving behind can be removed for sale or disposal during the same visit, and equipment goes into our storage if the new building is behind schedule.
Factory moves we plan in Durham
| Type of move | What sets the timetable | What we handle |
|---|---|---|
| Moving to a bigger or newer unit | Handover of the new unit with bases and power in | Extraction, transport and reinstallation, say from Consett to Newton Aycliffe |
| Bringing two sites onto one | Clearing floor at the site you are keeping | One asset register, incoming plant fitted around what stays |
| A closure, with working plant going to a sister site in the UK or abroad | The last production day and the receiving plant’s install date | Export cases for the working plant and clearance of the rest |
| Rearranging a factory within the same building or site | Which bays can stop, and for how long | Moves between bays, each machine levelled on its new base |
| A single line or department moving | How long that line can be stopped | Splitting the line into sections and rebuilding it |
| A lease end forcing a move | Your break clause or lease expiry | An empty unit by that date, with storage for any gap |
More on how these moves run is on our factory relocation service page.
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 Durham
Relocation work around Durham comes from these areas.
Engineering works at Newton Aycliffe
Machine shops here outgrow their floors and take CNC machine tools and presses to bigger units, with the new layout drawn before the first machine leaves. See our industrial sector page.
Automotive supply on the southern estates
Automotive suppliers around Spennymoor run assembly lines that must restart on a customer’s schedule, so we move them one at a time, each proved before the next leaves. See our automotive sector page.
Chemicals and specialist production
When a process area moves, its tanks and skids go too, with decommissioning agreed with your engineers and pipework match-marked for rebuilding. See our chemicals page.
Consett and the north west
Units at Consett and Stanley sit on higher ground in the north west. Plant leaving them may head for the A1(M) corridor or further, so transport is planned from the first survey.
Energy and waste sites
Renewable and energy from waste operators reorganise workshops from time to time, moving compressors and test equipment and clearing retired kit in the same visit. See our power and renewables page.
New units on regeneration schemes
Regeneration schemes in Durham city, Chester-le-Street and Newton Aycliffe bring new industrial units. When your plant is heading for one, we visit during the fit-out so its bases and doors suit your machines. See our construction sector page.
Access and planning for a factory move in Durham
Points we check on most Durham relocations:
- Rural lanes and low bridges. Units in Weardale and the west can sit up narrow lanes, with low bridges before the A68 or the A1(M). We drive the route for every high load before lorries are booked.
- A receiving building that is ready. Floor, bases, power, air and a clear way in must be ready on the programme dates, and we check the new unit against them as the move draws near.
- How each machine leaves. Door openings, headroom, yard space and any roof panel that can come off decide the method for each item, recorded on the asset register.
- Both floors under the kit. We check the slab in both units before skates and jacks go down. Outside, old mine workings under parts of the county can affect a crane standing, so the yard is assessed too.
- Council permits and abnormal loads. Where a load-out needs part of a road, we arrange the closure with Durham County Council, and abnormal loads are notified where needed.
Keeping production going during the move
Moving in phases lets a Durham works keep supplying customers. The lines you can spare move first and are running at the new site before the rest follows, and the final lines go over a weekend or in your shutdown. A Spennymoor firm moving to a larger unit can keep both buildings producing.
Your lease and the builder’s programme will not always agree, so our storage can hold equipment as long as needed. Plant you are not taking can be cleared for sale or disposal during the same visits.
Postcodes and areas we cover
We cover the DH and DL postcodes, reaching into Tyne and Wear and North Yorkshire:
- DH1 and DH6 to DH9: Durham city, Bowburn, Coxhoe, Lanchester, Consett, Stanley and Annfield Plain
- DH2 to DH5: Birtley, Chester-le-Street, Hetton-le-Hole and Houghton-le-Spring
- DL1 to DL5: Newton Aycliffe, Shildon and Darlington
- DL12 to DL17: Barnard Castle, Weardale, Bishop Auckland, Crook, Spennymoor and Ferryhill
- DL6 to DL11: Northallerton, Richmond, Catterick and Leyburn in North Yorkshire
We relocate factories right across the UK and into Europe.
Why Durham firms choose Synergy Lifting for factory relocation
- Plant with no paperwork. Machines installed decades ago in a Consett or Crook unit may have no drawings, so we measure them at survey and plan each extraction from what we find.
- A programme you can plan around. The dates for each phase are fixed with you before we start, so a Durham firm can book its own engineers and customers around them.
- Nothing handed between firms. Crane, rigging, haulage and reinstallation all come from us, with one contact from the first visit to the last.
- 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
Durham moves often use these services as well:
How a factory relocation works
- Send both addresses, a rough machine count and the date production must restart.
- We survey both sites and compile the asset register, or price a smaller move the same day from a desktop survey.
- A quote follows, with a programme showing when each machine leaves and arrives, plus method statements, risk assessments and lift plans.
- Our crew extracts and packs each item and transports it in its turn.
- At the new site we reinstall, level and set each machine to line, then hand it over for recommissioning.
Common questions
Our Newton Aycliffe plant is closing and the lines are going to a sister site abroad. Can you get them ready?
Yes. After decommissioning with your engineers, each line is taken apart in rebuild order, packed in export cases and loaded for its shipping date. Anything staying behind can be removed before you hand the building back.
Our unit in the west of the county is up a narrow lane. Can the machines still get out?
Yes. We check the lane, its bridges and the space to turn at survey, then choose trailers to suit. Where a long trailer cannot get in, a smaller vehicle shuttles loads out to a wider road.
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 Durham
- Phone: 0191 313 0049
- Email: durham@synergy-lifting.co.uk
Send us both addresses, a rough machine count and the date production has to restart, and we will reply with the next step.
We also provide factory relocation in Sunderland, Newcastle, Hartlepool and Darlington. See all the factory relocation locations.