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Industrial plant dismantling in Portsmouth and across south east Hampshire
We dismantle industrial plant in Portsmouth for marine engineering businesses around the harbour, manufacturers on the mainland estates, port and terminal operators, and the estates teams at university and public buildings. Some of it is a whole factory floor; some is one redundant batching plant or tank farm. Survey and method development come first, then making safe, cutting and separation in a planned order, lifting down, segregation and load-out.
Nearly all of the city stands on an island, so every section leaves over a bridge and cut sizes follow the load-out route. We cover Portsmouth, Hilsea, Cosham, Portchester, Fareham, Gosport, Havant, Waterlooville, Chichester and Petersfield. A desktop survey off drawings and photographs gets the price back the same working day. Shutdowns and night shifts are worked where the area only comes free outside ordinary hours.
What dismantling covers
Each stage undoes the one that built it, and that is what keeps the value in the plant. Equipment bound for another site is parted at its connections, match-marked, recorded and packed for re-erection. Machinery with working life left sells on as it stands. What is left comes down already sorted, in sizes a weighbridge will take.
What we dismantle in Portsmouth
| Plant | What decides the method | How it comes apart |
|---|---|---|
| Moulding, laminating and extraction plant | How much of the shed keeps working | Ducting lowered in lengths, booth panels unbolted and stacked |
| Storage tanks, day tanks and bunded farms | How the shell behaves once an opening is made | Braced from inside, then taken down course by course |
| Boiler houses, chillers and air handling plant | The hatch or stair each piece travels through | Sectioned on its base, skated out to the crane |
| Overhead travelling cranes and runway beams | Whether the crane goes back up elsewhere | Crab and bridge off, then beams released span by span |
| Pipework, pipe bridges and compressed air plant | What else the same supports carry | Drained and isolated, parted at flanges, lowered in lengths |
The middle column is settled at survey. Our industrial plant dismantling page sets out the full method.
Contact us
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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 Portsmouth
Dismantling enquiries here come from five parts of the local economy.
Marine engineering either side of the harbour
Boatbuilders and marine engineers work along both shores and at Gosport. Moulding shops, laminating bays, extraction ducting and resin storage come out when a shed changes hands. See our maritime sector page.
Port and ferry terminal plant
Ferry, cruise and cargo operations work to sailings, so terminal equipment, hoppers, conveyors and yard structures come down between movements. See our maritime page.
Manufacturing on the mainland estates
Engineering, fabrication and trade businesses fill the mainland estates from Hilsea round to Havant. Redundant lines, machine bases, compressor houses and extraction plant leave as floors are relaid. See our industrial sector page.
University and college buildings
Teaching workshops and laboratory buildings give up benches, fume plant, test rigs and boiler house equipment when a building is refurbished. See our education sector page.
Buildings being converted on the waterfront
Older buildings near the centre and the waterfront are cleared before conversion, their plant, tanks, cable and service runs leaving as one package. See our construction sector page.
Access and planning for dismantling in Portsmouth
What gets worked out on a Portsmouth job before the first cut:
- Height and access. This work happens up on the plant. The lift plan names the platform positions, the edge protection, what holds a piece as it comes free, and the rescue.
- What the plant held. Cleaning, purging and gas-free certification are the operator’s or a specialist’s work, and the cutting order follows the shifts those certificates cover.
- What is left holding the rest up. Take one member out and its load goes somewhere else, so each stage is checked for what stays standing, and temporary steel goes in first.
- Crossing off the island. Sections leaving Portsea Island travel over the Eastern Road, out through Hilsea or down the M275, and the route a load takes limits its size, so cut sizes are fixed at survey.
- Crane standing and street space. Ground near the harbour is made up in places and few city sites have a yard, so pads suit the pressure they see. Road closures go through Portsmouth City Council, or Hampshire County Council for Fareham, Gosport and Havant.
Dismantling for reuse, or for recovery
If the plant is due to stand again somewhere, we know before the method is drawn up. Each item is match-marked and photographed against the drawing as it is freed, joints come undone at bolts and flanges in place of the torch, and everything is crated for the road. Machinery with a buyer goes the same way.
Where plant has finished its life, what it fetches depends on how it is sorted. Stainless stays clear of carbon steel, cable and non-ferrous fill containers of their own, well away from the mixed skip, and steel is cut to lengths a yard will weigh. A Portsmouth job often runs both ways, a unit on the estates keeping its newer machines while the rest goes for weight. Mark those pieces on your enquiry and they come down first, whole and labelled.
Postcodes and areas we cover
We cover every PO postcode and the districts around the city:
- Portsea Island: city centre, Old Portsmouth, Southsea, Fratton, Milton, Eastney and Hilsea
- Cosham and the northern edge: Cosham, Drayton, Farlington and Paulsgrove
- Around the harbour: Portchester, Fareham, Titchfield, Stubbington, Gosport and Lee-on-the-Solent
- East of the city: Havant, Waterlooville, Emsworth and Hayling Island
- Further out: Chichester, Bognor Regis, Selsey, Wickham, Petersfield and the Isle of Wight
We dismantle plant right across the UK and into Europe.
Why Portsmouth firms choose Synergy Lifting for dismantling
- Permits, inductions and site rules. We plan to the permit regime the site runs, and where an area is released for one shift the cutting fits it.
- Kept items identified at survey. Anything you want back is listed on site, so the sequence frees, marks and packs it first.
- One order covers the crane, the cutting and the load-out. The appointed person, the burners and riggers, the crane and operator and the transport 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 dismantling
Work that runs alongside a Portsmouth dismantling job:
How a dismantling job works
- Tell us the plant, its contents and the items that matter, with any photographs or drawings.
- We survey, then build the method around the sequence, fixing where each piece breaks and what needs propping.
- Method statement, risk assessment and lift plan follow, with the certificate dates settled with your site.
- On site the plant is isolated, then cutting, lifts down and sorting run in the planned order.
- Everything leaves by road in sized loads, the records travelling with whatever goes back up.
Common questions
How big can a section be if it leaves Portsea Island?
The crossing and the approach roads set the limit, and each piece is sized against it at survey instead of on the day. Oversized sections are broken down further before the lift.
We are converting a waterfront building. When does the plant come out?
Ahead of the conversion work, as its own package. Boilers, tanks, service runs and handling plant come out while the building is empty, leaving a clear shell for the main contractor.
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 Portsmouth
- Phone: 023 9388 2296
- Email: portsmouth@synergy-lifting.co.uk
Tell us what the plant is, what went through it and the pieces you want back, with photographs or drawings.
We also provide industrial plant dismantling in Southampton, Bournemouth, Brighton and Reading. See all the industrial plant dismantling locations.