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Plant room strip out in Exeter and across Devon
In Exeter we mostly work in buildings that stay open while their heating and cooling is replaced. That means health buildings, schools and colleges, teaching and research departments, offices around the old core, and boiler houses on the estates either side of the M5. The new units have a delivery date, and the old ones have to leave a basement or a roof first. Our crew takes the old plant apart, loads it away and puts the new units in.
Enquiries come from Exeter, Marsh Barton, Sowton and Pinhoe, from Topsham and Exmouth down the estuary, and from Crediton, Tiverton, Honiton and Newton Abbot beyond. A few pictures are enough for us to price from, and the quote goes back that working day. If the building cannot spare the plant in the day, we come at night, at weekends or in a shutdown.
What a strip out covers
We take out air handling units, chillers and condensers, boilers and calorifiers, switchgear, generators, transformers, pumps, tanks and pressurisation sets, cutting each down to a size the route can take. Redundant pipework and steelwork go with them. The new plant comes in the same way and is set level. Our days fit into the M&E contractor’s plan, alongside their people.
What comes out of an Exeter plant room
| Plant | Where it sits | How it comes out |
|---|---|---|
| Pumps, tanks and pressure units | Tank rooms, risers and basement corners | Off the plinth on toe jacks, skated to the door |
| Sectional boilers and calorifiers | Basement boiler rooms | Flue and burner away, shell parted at the seams, rolled out |
| Chillers and condensers | Roof plinths and screened compounds | Lifted clear where a machine can stand, or reduced to modules |
| Air handling units | Roof housings and internal plant rooms | Panels unbolted, coils and fans out as separate loads |
| Generator sets, transformers and panels | Energy centres and switchrooms | Rolled out beneath a low-headroom gantry |
| Redundant pipework and steelwork | Risers, ceiling voids and walls | Cold cut to lengths that pass the stairs |
Weight matters less than the route. The method is written for the unit with the tightest way out. See our plant room strip out service page.
Contact us
Get In Touch
Please leave a few details and a member of our plant room strip out team will be in touch to discuss your requirements in more detail.
Where we work in and around Exeter
Most of the Exeter work is in these places.
Workshops and trade units on Marsh Barton
Boiler rooms and rooftop packages leave the city’s largest trading estate while the yards stay busy. See our industrial sector page.
Teaching and research departments
Plant serving laboratories and teaching space leaves in the vacations, when the buildings empty and the end date is hard. See our education page.
Wards and clinics
A health building has to keep its heating and cooling, so the new plant is running and tested before we break the old down. See our healthcare and pharma page.
Sowton and the parks along the airport corridor
East of the city, heating plant reaches the end of its life in the older units, while switchgear and packaged plant go into the newer ones at Greendale and Skypark. See our HVAC page.
Energy centres behind Devon food and drink plants
Steam raising plant, refrigeration packages and site utilities feed the production floor, so the room empties inside a booked shutdown and fills before the restart. See our food and beverages page.
Access and planning for an Exeter plant room strip out
We check these before pricing:
- Floor loads. Plant on skates sits on a few small pads. Marsh Barton and the low ground along the Exe are made ground, so each slab and void on the route is checked.
- Split points. Large plant separates at panel and flange joints, and the heaviest piece left after sectioning tells us whether Exeter’s tight lanes need a crane booked at all.
- The old walled core. Lanes inside the walls are tight and partly pedestrian, with few places for a crane to stand, so load-out moves to an early start or a Sunday. Closures go in with Devon County Council.
- Working hours. The estates team tells us when we can work and how loud, which lift we can book and which routes need protecting.
- Crane or internal route. A crane for the roof plant means hire and a closure, but it saves days of carrying through lifts and stairwells.
Before anything is lifted
A strip out is the last step in a sequence belonging mostly to other trades. The Exeter building’s M&E contractor is the one who shuts the plant off, drains and vents it and locks out every supply, and we see the sign-off before we cut into anything. A system holding refrigerant is emptied by an F-gas certified engineer first, and that certificate fixes our earliest date. Asbestos is checked by survey before any refurbishment or demolition, and a licensed contractor clears whatever is found.
We ask for all three dates when we quote and plan ours after the last. The survey notes who owns each, so every hand-off has a name against it.
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 strip out plant rooms right across the UK.
Why Exeter firms choose Synergy Lifting for plant room strip out
- Buildings in use. Wards, classrooms, laboratories and let office floors carry on around the crew, and the method is written for it.
- Devon towns as well as the city. Tiverton, Crediton, Honiton and Newton Abbot are quoted and crewed like the city.
- Crane and crew from us. You get the crane and operator, the riggers, the lorries for the old plant and the crew who set the new unit, all on one order.
- 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 plant room strip out
Work that sits alongside a strip out here:
How a plant room strip out works
- Give us the plant list, where the room is and how long a window you have.
- At survey we work out the route, the split points and the heaviest piece left.
- You get RAMS and a lift plan, with our dates after the M&E side has isolated.
- We break the plant down and walk it out over floor protection to the wagon.
- The replacement goes onto its bases, is levelled, and the M&E contractor takes it from there.
Common questions
The chiller is on a Marsh Barton roof and the yard is shared. Where does the crane stand?
The survey looks at the estate road as well as the yard, because reaching in from the road answers it where trade traffic fills the yard. Mats are chosen for the made ground along the Exe.
Our window is a vacation. Is that long enough for a boiler house?
Most are. The route out decides it, along with whether the isolations, the refrigerant certificate and any asbestos clearance land before the building empties.
Can the building stay open while the plant comes out?
Usually, yes. Most of this work happens in buildings that keep running, so the route is protected, the hours are agreed with the building manager, and the heavy moves go at night or over a weekend where that suits everyone. On a heating or cooling system the building cannot lose, the new plant goes in and is proven before the old plant comes out.
Who isolates and drains the plant before you start?
Your M&E contractor, with the isolation, drain down and lock-off signed off in writing before we cut anything. Refrigerant recovery belongs to an F-gas certified engineer and asbestos to a licensed contractor, so we plan our dates around both. We agree at quoting stage who is covering what.
Get a quote for a plant room strip out in Exeter
- Phone: 01392 328 740
- Email: exeter@synergy-lifting.co.uk
A plant list and a note of where the room is, plus whether new plant follows, is enough to start. Add pictures of the way out if you have them.
We also provide plant room strip out in Plymouth, Cardiff, Newport and Swansea. See all the plant room strip out locations.