Lift and Shift Plymouth

Lift and shift in Plymouth and across south west Devon

We provide lift and shift in Plymouth for marine engineering firms, manufacturers, hospital and campus estates teams, and the builders of new waterfront schemes. The job is moving heavy or awkward items where a crane cannot reach or cannot do the final placing: switchgear into a switchroom, a boiler down to a basement, a generator through a narrow service door, a machine moved to a new bay or a cabinet of delicate equipment carried up a floor.

We cover Plymouth, Plympton, Plymstock, Estover and Ivybridge, out to Tavistock and over the river to Saltash and Torpoint. Much of the city sits on slopes running down to the water, and the route is planned with that in mind. Send the details and a few photos for a same-day price.

What lift and shift covers

It means lifting, lowering, turning and travelling a heavy item along a set route, then landing it on its base, using gantries, skates, rollers, jacks and toe jacks. On plenty of jobs a crane sets the load down outside and our crew takes it from there.

What we lift and shift in Plymouth

Item	Where it usually is	How it moves
Transformers and switchgear	Switchrooms in new waterfront blocks and on the industrial estates	Jacked up, set on skates and pushed through the switchroom door onto the plinth
Boilers and hot water plant	Basement plant rooms under city-centre shops and offices	Lowered on a gantry at the stair or hatch, then walked across the floor on skates
Standby generators and UPS	Energy centres on hospital and campus sites	Rolled in from the delivery door and landed on anti-vibration mounts
Machinery and presses	Production units across the city’s estates	Toe jacks under the base, then skates to a new bay in the same unit
Tanks and process skids	Yards and workshops near the waterfront	Taken across the yard on rollers and jacked down onto a new plinth
Display cabinets	Shops and showrooms in the city centre	Hand-pulled skates, with corners, walls and floors covered on the way

Tell us the item’s weight and size along with both positions, and we will suggest a method. Our lift and shift service page sets out the process in full.

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 Plymouth

Our Plymouth lift and shift work comes from a spread of buildings.

Marine workshops by the water

Ship repair and marine engineering firms need tanks, generators and heavy machinery set down in fit-out bays, often in a shed where other work carries on around the move. See our maritime sector page.

Factory units on the estates

Manufacturing and engineering units from the city centre out to the A38 shuffle machines to make way for new plant, with the rest of the unit still working. See our industrial sector page.

Hospitals and clinics

Healthcare plant rooms take new boilers, chillers and UPS, and the old units come out the same way, often through a goods lift sized for beds. See our healthcare and pharma page.

University, college and school buildings

Laboratory kit and plant upgrades on campuses and in schools go into holiday shutdowns, some to plant rooms reached by a single stair. See our education sector page.

New waterfront and city schemes

Residential and commercial developments need switchgear and generators set into finished rooms near the end of the build. See our construction sector page.

Rooftop plant

Air handling units and chillers on factory and office roofs are craned up, then moved across the roof to their frames. See our HVAC sector page.

Access and planning for a lift and shift in Plymouth

Points we check on most Plymouth jobs:

Sloping ground. Many Plymouth streets and yards fall steeply towards the water. A gradient at the kerb or a ramp into the building changes how the load is held, so we plan winching and packing for every slope on the route.
Beside the water. Waterfront buildings are exposed to wind and some yards to the tide. Where a crane starts the job, we set the wind limit and timing to suit.
What the floor will carry. Jacks and skates put the weight through small points. We check the slab and any voids or ducts beneath it, and lay plates or mats where needed.
Clearances. We measure the item’s height on the equipment and every doorway and step between the vehicle and the base.
Using the highway. If the vehicle has to stand in the road, we can arrange the traffic management and any closure with Plymouth City Council, or with Cornwall Council for jobs in Saltash and Torpoint.

Getting it where it needs to go

Jobs run in every direction. New plant goes in, worn plant comes out, and on some visits the old unit leaves and its replacement arrives in the same shift. Others stay outside: a transformer across a yard onto its plinth, a tank between two buildings, or a unit moved across a roof.

Plymouth buildings put plenty in the way: basements under city-centre blocks, stairs and goods lifts too small for the load, mezzanines in estate units, ramps and level changes, raised floors and narrow doors in older waterfront buildings. Gantries, jacks, rollers, skates and a crane where it helps get past most of it. 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 PL postcode and the districts around the city:

Plymouth: city centre, the Barbican, Stonehouse, Mutley, Greenbank, St Budeaux and Ernesettle
North, east and south: Estover, Plympton, Plymstock, Ivybridge, Yelverton and Tavistock
Cornwall: Saltash, Torpoint, Liskeard and Bodmin
Wider area: Totnes, Kingsbridge and Okehampton

We also lift and shift right across the UK.

Why Plymouth firms choose Synergy Lifting for lift and shift

Hours set around your building. Moves are planned around term dates or trading hours, so the building stays open.
One booking for the crane and the crew. The crane lift outside and the move to the base run under a single plan with one point of contact.
Method agreed before the date. You see the method statement and route before a day is fixed.
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 can be part of a larger job, so we also offer:

How a lift and shift works

Give us the weight and size, where the item sits now and where it has to end up, plus photos of the route.
We price it from a desktop survey the same working day, and come out first if the route is tight or the floors are unknown.
We draw up the method statement, risk assessment and lift plan, and check the floor loadings.
Our crew lifts the item, moves it along the route and positions it.
We set it down on its base, level it and hand it over.

Common questions

Can you move heavy plant into a building on a steep street?

Yes. We look at where the vehicle can stand and the gradient to the door, then plan how the load is held on the slope with winches and packing. Photos from the road and the entrance are enough for a first answer.

Can you install switchgear in a new block before handover?

Yes. We work to the main contractor’s programme, agree a delivery slot and a clear route, and land the switchgear on its plinth ready for the electricians.

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 Plymouth

Phone: 01752 712 008
Email: plymouth@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 Exeter, Swansea, Cardiff and Newport. See all the lift and shift locations.