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Lift and shift in Aberdeen and across Aberdeenshire
We provide lift and shift in Aberdeen for energy and subsea firms, food processors, offices and commercial buildings across the city and the shire. That means heavy plant moved where a crane cannot reach or cannot do the final placing: switchgear set into a switchroom, a boiler brought up from a basement, a process skid shifted along a workshop floor, or laboratory equipment carried between rooms.
Our crews cover Altens, Tullos, Kirkhill, Dyce, Bridge of Don and Westhill, out to Stonehaven, Inverurie, Ellon and Peterhead. We can price most jobs the same working day from a desktop survey and photos.
What lift and shift covers
Lift and shift is the lifting, lowering, turning and travelling of a heavy item onto its base without a crane hook over it, using gantries, skates, rollers, jacks and toe jacks. On many jobs a crane outside lands the item at the door and our crew takes it from there.
What we lift and shift in Aberdeen
| Item | Where it usually is | How it moves |
|---|---|---|
| Transformers and switchgear | Switchrooms on the Bridge of Don estates | Raised on toe jacks, rolled in on skates and jacked down onto the plinth |
| Boilers, chillers and air handling units | Basement and roof plant rooms in city-centre offices and hotels | Gantry over the hatch or opening, then skated across to the base |
| Process skids | Service company workshops at Westhill | Jacked onto skates, turned in the bay and set down on packers |
| Lathes and presses | Machine shops on the East Tullos estate | Raised on toe jacks and rolled across the shop |
| UPS and standby generators | Comms and control rooms in offices around Kirkhill | Rolled through the goods door and levelled on its mounts |
| Laboratory equipment | Testing and analysis labs serving the energy industry | Padded skates along a protected corridor, placed by low-headroom gantry |
Tell us the weight, size and destination and we will work out the method. Our lift and shift service page explains the process in more detail.
Contact us
Get In Touch
Please leave a few details and a member of our lift and shift team will be in touch to discuss your requirements in more detail.
Where we work in and around Aberdeen
Our Aberdeen work comes from a handful of sectors.
Energy and subsea workshops
Offshore energy still drives Aberdeen’s industry, and its workshops and assembly halls need skids and control panels moved between bays as contracts change, often to corners the overhead crane cannot reach. See our industrial sector page.
Harbourside stores and workshops
Warehouses and workshops around the harbour estate handle offshore support equipment and project cargo, and heavy items inside them are skated between storage and inspection bays. See our maritime sector page.
Energy transition
New onshore electrical rooms take transformers and switchgear, skated onto their plinths. See our power and renewables and dismantling and demolition pages.
Business park offices
Offices on the business parks north and west of the city replace plant room and switchroom equipment, with each unit arriving at a goods door and travelling through a working building. See our HVAC sector page.
Fish and farm processing
Processing halls in the city and across Aberdeenshire change tanks and packing machines between production runs, over wet tiled floors that need covering first. See our food and beverages page.
City-centre buildings
Refurbishment in the city centre brings new boilers and air handling units into the cellars and roof spaces of offices and hotels. See our construction sector page.
Access and planning for a lift and shift in Aberdeen
Points we check on most Aberdeen jobs:
- Granite walls. Older buildings in the centre have thick granite walls, so an opening cannot simply be widened for the day. We measure every door, arch, stair and landing against the item before choosing a method.
- What the floor sits on. Workshops at Altens and Tullos can have pits and service trenches under the slab. We trace them along the route and spread the load with mats or steel tracks.
- Clearance on the way. Headroom is measured with the item on its skates, along with each corner and threshold between the door and the base.
- Staff still at work. Offices and processing halls keep going while we are there, so hours and the route are agreed with the site manager first.
- Space on the street. If the lorry has to stand on a road or footway, we arrange the traffic management and closure with Aberdeen City Council or Aberdeenshire Council.
Getting it where it needs to go
A job can run into a building, out of one, or both when the old unit leaves on the visit that brings its replacement. Some never go indoors: a transformer moved across a yard onto its plinth, a tank shifted between buildings, a generator set down beside a building it will serve, or plant skated along a roof after a crane has landed it.
Tenement stairs, small goods lifts, workshop mezzanines, loading ramps, raised floors in control rooms and deep city-centre basements all turn up on Aberdeen routes. Gantries, jacks, rollers and skates get most items past them, with a crane where a lift from outside is easier. When nothing fits, we strip back a door frame and make it good, or take the item through in sections.
Postcodes and areas we cover
We cover every AB postcode, plus the districts around the city:
- Aberdeen: city centre, Ferryhill, Mannofield, Torry, Northfield, Bridge of Don and Dyce
- Industrial and harbour areas: Altens, Tullos, Kirkhill and the harbour estate
- Aberdeenshire: Westhill, Kintore, Inverurie, Stonehaven, Banchory and Ellon
- Wider area: Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Elgin and Montrose
We also lift and shift right across the UK.
Why Aberdeen firms choose Synergy Lifting for lift and shift
- Kit that fits tight rooms. Low-headroom gantries, toe jacks, rollers and compact skates handle items in switchrooms with little space around them.
- A crane outside and a crew inside, on one plan. The lift to the door and the move to the base follow the same lift plan, with one contact for you.
- Working around your staff. Offices at Westhill and Dyce and processing halls across the shire carry on while we move plant through them.
- 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 lift and shift
A lift and shift in Aberdeen is often one part of a larger job, so we also offer:
How a lift and shift works
- You give us the weight, dimensions, both positions and photos of the route.
- We price it from a desktop survey the same working day, or visit first when the route is tight or the floor unknown.
- A method statement, risk assessment and lift plan are written, and the floor loading along the route is checked.
- Our crew lifts the item, moves it and brings it into position.
- It is lowered onto its base, levelled and handed back ready for connection.
Common questions
Can you get a new boiler into a granite building in the city centre?
Yes. As the walls cannot be opened up, we measure the doors, any pavement hatch, the cellar stair and the turn at its foot, then decide whether the boiler goes in whole or in sections. Photos of the way in are enough for a first answer.
Can new switchgear go in ahead of the outage at our Westhill or Dyce office?
Yes, where the switchroom has space. We set the new panels on their base beforehand, so the outage covers only the changeover, then remove the old panels once disconnected.
How much headroom do you need?
Less than most people expect, but it decides the method. What counts is the gap between the top of the item and the lowest obstruction on the route once the item is on the equipment. Where it is tight we use a low-headroom gantry or jacks and lift in smaller steps.
Will you damage our floor?
Not if the route is prepared, and that preparation is part of the price. We spread the load with mats or tracks where the slab needs it, protect finished surfaces, and agree beforehand what gets covered and what gets made good.
Get a quote for lift and shift in Aberdeen
- Phone: 01224 003 165
- Email: aberdeen@synergy-lifting.co.uk
Send the weight, the dimensions and photos of the route, and we will come back with a price.
We also provide lift and shift in Edinburgh, Grangemouth, Glasgow and Newcastle. See all the lift and shift locations.