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Factory relocation in Reading and across Berkshire
Factory moves around Reading come from the engineering, technology and trade businesses on the estates at Theale, Calcot and Winnersh, and from manufacturers in the towns along the corridor. We run the move from one point of contact: survey and asset register, disconnection and decommissioning worked through with your engineers and the equipment manufacturers, strip-out and dismantling, the machinery lifted out, packed, crated and hauled, then reinstalled at the new address, levelled, set to line and recommissioned.
We cover Reading, Green Park, Theale, Calcot, Winnersh and Wokingham, out to Bracknell, Newbury, Basingstoke, Maidenhead and Slough. A desktop survey puts a price on a smaller move the same working day, and both ends are walked for a larger one.
What a factory relocation covers
A relocation can cover the whole factory or a single department. On the list go CNC machine tools and presses, moulding machines, packing lines, conveyors, compressors, process tanks and racking. Anything you are not taking is removed for sale or disposal on the same visits, and where the new building is behind, equipment goes into storage until the floor and services are in.
Factory moves we plan in Reading
| Type of move | What sets the timetable | What we handle |
|---|---|---|
| Moving to a bigger or newer unit | How soon the new floor takes machines | Both units measured, then lift out, haulage and set-out |
| Bringing two sites onto one | The order the two floors are emptied in | One numbered list across both units |
| A closure, with working plant going to a sister site | Your forwarder’s booking and start-up at the far end | Isolation, crates for the journey, and the unit emptied |
| Rearranging a factory in the same building | The gaps your production plan leaves | Bay-to-bay moves in stages, levelled on new bases |
| A single line or department moving | Where the order book lets that line stop | Strip-out, labelling and a rebuild to the new floor plan |
| A lease end forcing a move | The date the landlord takes the unit back | Clearance to that date, with storage for the overflow |
Our factory relocation service page sets the stages out in order.
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 Reading
These are the kinds of plant that change address around the town.
Engineering units at Theale and Calcot
Machine shops on the estates west of Reading move machine tools, presses and test rigs. Each leaves on jacks and skates and goes back onto a levelled base. See our industrial sector page.
Light manufacturing at Winnersh, Wokingham and Bracknell
Assembly and moulding shops east of the town take injection moulding machines, compressors and packing equipment into a larger unit. Each is logged with its route out before dates are fixed. See our plastics and metals page.
Food and drink producers across Berkshire
Filling and packing lines are cleaned down and wrapped for the journey, then rebuilt in the sequence the new site brings them back on. See our food and beverages page.
Laboratory and process equipment on the technology parks
Research and technology firms along the corridor move process skids, test equipment and laboratory kit when a department grows or a lease ends, set down ready for requalification. See our healthcare and pharma page.
College and university workshops
Workshops, test rigs and teaching equipment change buildings when an estate is rebuilt, in the weeks when students are away. See our education sector page for more.
Access and planning for a factory move in Reading
Points we check on most Reading relocations:
- When the lorries can travel. Loads join the M4 between junctions 10 and 12, off the A33, the A329(M) or the A4. The corridor is busy through the day, so departure times are set with the route.
- What has to be finished at the far end. Machine bases, power, compressed air and the way in are each tied to a date, confirmed with the receiving site as the move nears.
- Getting each machine out of the old unit. We take shutter widths, the headroom under crane beams and the depth of the yard, and a roof panel that lifts off can open a route.
- What the slabs and yards will carry. Jacks and skates load a small footprint heavily. Made-up ground beside the Thames and the Kennet, and service yards with drainage beneath them, mean both floors are confirmed and plates laid where needed.
- Taking road space for a load-out. Loading that spills onto a road or footway needs traffic management and a closure, which we take on with Reading Borough Council, Wokingham or West Berkshire. An oversized machine is notified as an abnormal load.
Keeping production going during the move
Phasing lets the orders keep going out. Whichever lines you can spare travel first, and they are running at the new address while the old floor is still working. The heaviest items come out over a weekend or inside a shutdown.
Handing the old unit back and taking delivery at the new one seldom fall on the same date. Storage sits between the two, and equipment comes out once the bases are cured. A firm leaving Calcot for a bigger building at Newbury can keep both floors working meanwhile, and the plant left behind goes for sale or disposal.
Postcodes and areas we cover
Every RG postcode is covered, with the Berkshire towns either side of the corridor:
- Reading: Green Park, the town centre, Caversham, Tilehurst, Whitley, Earley and Woodley
- West Berkshire: Theale, Calcot, Burghfield, Pangbourne, Thatcham and Newbury
- Wokingham and Bracknell Forest: Winnersh, Shinfield, Wokingham, Bracknell and Crowthorne
- Further out: Basingstoke, Maidenhead, Slough, Henley, Oxford, Swindon and west London
We relocate factories right across the UK and into Europe.
Why Reading firms choose Synergy Lifting for factory relocation
- Familiar with the estates around the town. Machinery installs, factory moves and plant removals at Theale, Calcot, Winnersh and the units around the town are part of our work.
- An answer the same working day. Send an outline with photographs and a price for a smaller move comes back that day.
- The same firm lifts it out and sets it down. Crane hire, riggers, haulage, storage and the fitters who level and set to line are all ours, on one contract.
- 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
Other services that go with a factory move in Reading:
How a factory relocation works
- Send the two addresses, a rough machine count and the date production has to restart.
- Each site is walked and everything in it listed, or a smaller move is priced off photographs and drawings.
- The quote sets out the sequence, and method statements, risk assessments and lift plans sit behind it.
- Our crew disconnects, extracts, packs and hauls each item in its slot.
- Each machine is positioned at the new address, levelled and set to line, ready for your recommissioning.
Common questions
Only one department is moving. Is that still a factory relocation?
Yes. The department is surveyed with the space waiting for it, then its machines are labelled, extracted and rebuilt to the new layout while the rest of the floor carries on.
Our new site is across the river. Does the crossing need checking?
Yes, and we settle it before a lorry is booked. The Thames crossings immediately north of the town are older and narrower than the main routes, so a wide machine often runs east to cross where the M4 does.
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 Reading
- Phone: 0800 008 6096
- Email: reading@synergy-lifting.co.uk
Send us both addresses, a rough machine count and the date production has to restart, and we will set out how the move would run.
We also provide factory relocation in Oxford, London, Luton and Milton Keynes. See all the factory relocation locations.