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Industrial plant dismantling in Exeter and across Devon
We take industrial plant apart in Exeter for engineering and trade firms on the trade and industrial estates around the city, for Devon food and drink producers, for the hospital and university estates, and for treatment works operators. Some jobs are a whole factory floor; others are one redundant tank farm or batching plant. Survey and method development come first, then isolation and making safe, cutting and separation in the planned order, lifting down, segregation and load-out.
We cover Exeter, the Marsh Barton and Sowton estates, Pinhoe, Topsham and Exmouth, out to Cullompton, Tiverton, Crediton, Newton Abbot and Honiton. We price from photographs and drawings, and the quote goes back the same working day. Shutdown and night shifts are worked when that is the only time the plant is free.
What dismantling covers
Running the original build backwards keeps the value in the plant. Equipment bound for another site is released at its connections, match-marked, recorded and packed for the journey. Machines with life left in them go to a buyer as they stand. What is finished comes down as separated material, sized so a weighbridge can price it.
What we dismantle in Exeter
| Plant | What decides the method | How it comes apart |
|---|---|---|
| Boilers, chillers and energy centre plant | The building stays in service | Drained, broken at flanges, skated out |
| Process tanks, silos and vessels | What the shell braced, and the certificate | Supported, then taken down in rings |
| Filling, packing and process lines | Whether the line runs again | Split at bolts and flanges, labelled and crated |
| Compressors, extraction plant and air lines | Headroom and the way out | Isolated, cut into forklift lengths |
| Overhead cranes, gantries and access steel | What the frame still carries | Load taken off, members released bay by bay |
| Pumps, transformers and switchgear | The outage the operator can give | Made dead, freed from the plinth |
The method sits on our industrial plant dismantling page.
Contact us
Get In Touch
Please leave a few details and a member of our dismantling team will be in touch to discuss your requirements in more detail.
Where we work in and around Exeter
Our Exeter dismantling enquiries come from six parts of the city and county.
The trading estate at Marsh Barton
Machine tools, presses and compressors come out of workshops on the city’s largest estate, the cutting area fenced off from shared yards. See our industrial sector page.
Sowton and the junction 30 estates
East of the city, units around Sowton give up rooftop and yard plant with its supporting steel. See our HVAC sector page.
Business parks on the airport corridor
Towards the airport, racking, mezzanine steel and conveyors come down when a unit changes use, the park still working. See our construction sector page.
Hospital and university estates
Boiler houses, chiller sets and superseded energy centre plant leave as buildings are refurbished, in sections sized to corridors and lifts. See our healthcare and pharma and education pages.
Devon food and drink plants
Producers across the county take out process tanks, mixing vessels and filling lines, the stainless separated as it goes. See our food and beverages page.
Water, waste and substation sites
Pumps, filter plant, transformers and switchgear come out inside booked outages, the sequence written to each shift’s permits. See our waste water treatment and power and renewables pages.
Access and planning for dismantling in Exeter
What we settle in Exeter before the first cut:
- Access up on the structure, and rescue from it. Cutting happens up on tanks, gantries and pipe runs, so the lift plan covers platform positions, edge protection, what holds a section before the last cut, and how someone hurt is brought down.
- Buildings that stay open, and the streets of the old core. The estates team sets the exclusion zone, route out and hours before a date is booked. Streets in the historic centre are narrow and partly pedestrian, so pieces are kept small and loaded early or on a Sunday.
- Where the crane stands and how the load leaves. Marsh Barton and the low ground along the Exe sit on made ground, so outrigger pressures are calculated and mats chosen to suit. Closures go through Devon County Council where load-out takes a lane.
- Contents, cleaning and certificates. Emptying, cleaning and gas-free certification are the operator’s to arrange, or a specialist’s. Several certificates run for a single shift, so the cutting order is built around the shifts they cover.
- What each cut leaves behind. Plant carries loads that appear on no drawing, and a walkway can lean on the vessel due out first. Each stage is checked, with temporary steel where support is short.
Dismantling for reuse, or for recovery
Equipment with another home to go to changes the method from the start. Every item takes a match-mark and its position goes on record as it comes free, flanges and bolted joints come undone instead of being burned, and each piece is crated for the road. Machines being sold to a buyer are handled on the same terms.
When a plant has no further use, the return comes from how well the materials are separated. Stainless is kept away from carbon steel, non-ferrous and cable are kept in their own containers clear of the mixed skip, and the steel goes out in sizes a yard will take. Most jobs here are part one, part the other. Mark the items you want back on the enquiry and the sequence frees those first.
Postcodes and areas we cover
We cover every EX postcode and the districts around the city:
- Exeter: city centre, Heavitree, Wonford, Pinhoe, Whipton, Marsh Barton and Sowton
- Around the city: Topsham, Exminster, Exton, Crediton and Cullompton
- East Devon and the coast: Exmouth, Budleigh Salterton, Sidmouth, Seaton, Colyton, Honiton and Dawlish
- Wider area: Tiverton, Newton Abbot, Taunton, Okehampton and Barnstaple
We dismantle plant right across the UK and into Europe.
Why Exeter firms choose Synergy Lifting for dismantling
- Occupied buildings and permit-controlled areas. Work alongside wards, teaching space and running production is normal for our crews, and the method is written for it.
- Recovery treated as part of the work. Items with value come off early and undamaged, grades kept apart throughout.
- One order covering the crane, the crew and the lorries. The appointed person and lift plan, the rigging and cutting gangs and the transport are ours, so the sequence stays in one set of hands.
- 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 dismantling
Work that runs alongside an Exeter dismantling job:
How a dismantling job works
- Tell us the plant, its contents and whether any of it is being kept, with photographs or drawings.
- A survey follows and the method is developed, the sequence set to keep whatever remains standing stable.
- Method statement, risk assessment and lift plan follow, and the site dates its certificates in.
- Cutting, lifting down and segregation follow that sequence, with kept items freed first.
- Sections load out by road, and whatever goes back up leaves match-marked and recorded.
Common questions
A Devon food line stops for one weekend. Can it come out in that time?
Yes, where the line breaks into sections that can be freed independently and the certificates are lined up for the Friday. A short weekend takes it out over two stoppages.
Plant must come out of a campus building that stays open. How is that handled?
The estates team sets the hours, the route and the exclusion zone, and the cutting is arranged for night hours. Cutting areas are screened and pieces sized to the doors they pass through.
How is dismantling different from demolition?
Demolition takes a structure down and the value is in the cleared site. Dismantling takes plant apart in the reverse of the order it went up, so what comes off keeps its value as equipment, as parts, or as material worth more separated than mixed. The planning takes longer and the work is slower, and on the right job it pays for itself.
Who cleans and certifies the plant before cutting?
Cleaning, purging and gas-free certification sit with the site operator or a specialist, and the sequence is planned around those certificates. Several are valid for one shift only, so the cutting is arranged to match when they can be issued. We agree all of that at survey and write it into the programme.
Get a quote for industrial plant dismantling in Exeter
- Phone: 01392 328 740
- Email: exeter@synergy-lifting.co.uk
Send the plant details, what it contained and the items you want back, with photographs.
We also provide industrial plant dismantling in Plymouth, Cardiff, Newport and Swansea. See all the industrial plant dismantling locations.