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Lift and shift in Doncaster and across South Yorkshire
We provide lift and shift in Doncaster for distribution parks, rail engineering firms, steel works, hospitals and schools. The work is moving, lifting, lowering, turning and positioning heavy or awkward items where a crane cannot reach or cannot do the final placing: transformers and switchgear into switchrooms, chillers, boilers, air handling units and generators in and out of plant rooms and basements, machinery repositioned inside a factory, tanks and process skids, and delicate items such as display cabinets and laboratory equipment.
We cover Doncaster, Balby, Thorne and Mexborough, and out to Rotherham, Barnsley, north Nottinghamshire and north Lincolnshire. Most jobs get a price the same working day from a desktop survey.
What lift and shift covers
It covers any heavy item that has to be raised, lowered, turned or taken along a route to its base, with no crane hook doing the placing. We use gantries, skates, rollers, jacks and toe jacks. Where a crane lands the item at a door or on a roof, we take it on from there.
What we lift and shift in Doncaster
| Item | Where it usually is | How it moves |
|---|---|---|
| Switchgear and transformers | Switchrooms inside distribution sheds and on utility sites | Skated in from the loading door and toe-jacked onto the plinth |
| Boilers and chillers | Basement plant rooms in public buildings and offices | Lowered on a gantry, then skated along a protected corridor |
| Standby generators and UPS | Offices and comms rooms on the logistics parks | Brought in through a dock door and set on anti-vibration mounts |
| Production machinery | Fabrication shops around Conisbrough and Denaby | Toe jacks and skates to a new bay under the same roof |
| Tanks and process skids | Manufacturing and recycling plants | Jacked off their supports, skated across and set on new ones |
| Laboratory and medical equipment | Hospital wards and college teaching rooms | Padded skates along a cleared corridor, then gantry onto its stand |
Give us the weight, size and both positions and we will explain the method. See the lift and shift service page for more.
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 Doncaster
Our Doncaster jobs come from six kinds of building.
Distribution sheds at iPort and Balby Carr
Big sheds here have their own switchrooms and sprinkler pump houses. New kit is skated in from a dock door while forklifts keep working. See our industrial sector page.
Rail workshops
Rail engineering has deep roots in Doncaster. Machinery and switchgear in the workshops move when a bay is re-laid, with any work near the lines agreed with the rail operator. See our rail sector page.
Works and fabrication shops in the lower Don Valley
From Mexborough and Swinton towards Rotherham, steel processors and fabricators shift presses and process skids to make room for new equipment. See our plastics and metals page.
Newly built industrial and commercial units
Units going up near the motorway junctions need switchgear set in the electrical room and air handling units placed on roof plinths once the shell is finished. See our construction sector page.
Substations and recycling plants
Transformer and switchboard changes at substations are tied to an outage window. Recycling plants call us for tanks moved across a yard during a planned stop. See our power and renewables and waste and recycling pages.
Plant rooms in hospitals and schools
Boilers and chillers in basement plant rooms get replaced over holidays and weekends, and colleges move laboratory equipment between teaching rooms. See our healthcare and pharma and education pages.
Access and planning for a lift and shift in Doncaster
Points we check on most Doncaster jobs:
- Live distribution sheds. Aisles on the big parks are shared with forklifts, and yards with reversing trailers. We agree a marked route and working times with the site team.
- Floor loading and what lies beneath. Older works in the lower Don Valley can hide machine pits and cable trenches under the slab, and parts of the valley sit on made ground. We find out what the route crosses and spread the load with steel plates where needed.
- Headroom along the route. Sprinkler mains and dock door heads set the limit in a warehouse, a beam or duct in older buildings. We measure with the item on the equipment, and check each door and turn.
- Buildings that stay open. Hospitals and schools carry on, so we work to the hours the estates team gives us.
- Road closures. Where a lorry has to stand on a town centre street, we arrange traffic management and any closure with City of Doncaster Council.
Getting it where it needs to go
Jobs run in every direction. A new switchboard goes into a building, a dead chiller comes out, or both happen in one visit. Others stay outdoors, such as a transformer skated across a yard onto its plinth or a tank moved between buildings. Some finish on a roof after a crane has landed the unit.
Doncaster’s sheds bring dock levellers and mezzanines; older works bring steps between bays and narrow doors; hospital plant sits in basements down a ramp; comms rooms have raised floors. Gantries, jacks, rollers and skates get past most of it, with a crane where it helps. 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 the whole DN postcode area and the districts around the town:
- Doncaster: town centre, Hexthorpe, Balby, Intake, Bessacarr and Bentley
- North and east: Armthorpe, Thorne, Hatfield, Stainforth, Askern and Adwick
- South and west: Rossington, Bawtry, Tickhill, Edlington, Conisbrough and Mexborough
- Wider area: Rotherham, Barnsley, Worksop, Gainsborough, Goole and Scunthorpe
We also lift and shift right across the UK.
Why Doncaster firms choose Synergy Lifting for lift and shift
- New sheds and old works alike. A switchroom at iPort and a press in an older works by the Don need different kit, and we bring the right set.
- Crane outside, shift inside. Plenty of Doncaster jobs need a crane to land the item and skates or jacks for the last stretch. We run both under one plan.
- Swaps planned as one job. Old plant out and new plant in are planned together, so the room stands empty for as short a time as possible.
- 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 here often sits inside a bigger job, so we also offer:
How a lift and shift works
- Give us the weight, dimensions, both positions and photos of the route.
- A price comes back the same working day from a desktop survey, with a site visit first for tight routes or unknown floors.
- We write the method statement, risk assessment and lift plan, and check floor loading.
- On the day the crew lifts, moves and positions the item.
- We set it down, level it and hand it over for connection.
Common questions
Can you replace a boiler in a Doncaster school over the summer holidays?
Yes. We measure the plant room and the way in during term, agree dates with the school, then take the old boiler out and set the new one on its base while the building is empty.
Can you move a machine across an old works floor in the Don Valley?
Yes. We check for pits, trenches or made ground under the route, lay steel plates where the slab needs them, then take the machine on skates and toe jacks to its new spot.
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 Doncaster
- Phone: 01302 238 334
- Email: doncaster@synergy-lifting.co.uk
Send us the weight and dimensions with some photos of the route, and we will reply with a price.
We also provide lift and shift in Sheffield, Chesterfield, Leeds and York. See all the lift and shift locations.