Steel Erection Cambridge

Packages

Steel + more

Cladding, roofing and demolition too

Coverage

Cambridge

CB postcodes

Quotes

Same day

For most enquiries

Overview

Steel erection in Cambridge and across Cambridgeshire

In Cambridge we put up laboratory extensions, plant decks and platforms for research and technology firms, on buildings that stay occupied across the city’s science and business parks. New housing and commercial schemes on the edges of the city take frames and light gauge walling, and food and packing businesses across the Fens need stores and process platforms. In the historic centre, plant steel and small extensions go in from narrow streets full of cyclists.

On the science parks that means plant decks, mezzanines and extensions, and now and then a lab and office frame going up floor by floor. On the Fens it is more often a portal frame shed. Our gangs work from Histon down to Sawston, and further afield at Ely, Huntingdon, Royston and Newmarket. With drawings and photographs, a plain portal frame can usually be priced the working day they reach us.

What steel erection covers

We erect the steel your fabricator supplies: the frame is stood and bolted, then checked for plumb and braced, with secondary steel and light gauge (LFS or SFS) framing to follow. Frames already standing can be taken apart when a lab tenant moves on.

What we do

What we erect in Cambridge

Structure	Where it goes up	What sets the method
Plant decks and rooftop platforms	Laboratory and office buildings on the business parks	Occupied floors below and the lifting hours the site allows
Laboratory and office extensions	Research buildings that keep working	Vibration near sensitive equipment, and the connections to the existing frame
Frames and light gauge walling	New housing and commercial schemes on the city’s edges	Crane positions across a larger, open plot
Packhouses and cold stores	Food and farm sites across Cambridgeshire	Where the crane stands in a working yard
Canopies and small extensions	Listed streets in the city centre	The one position a compact crane can set up in
Frames dismantled for reconfiguration	Units changing layout or tenant	Release order, and match-marks on pieces to re-erect

Read more on our steel erection and dismantling service page.

Get a quote

Tell us about your project

Send us the details and we will come back with a quote, usually the same day for a desktop survey.

Or call 01223 790 068

Sectors

Where we work in and around Cambridge

Laboratories take the most steel in Cambridge, but not all of it.

Lab extensions for research firms

Plant decks, platforms inside labs and small extensions go up on research and biotech buildings across the science parks, at lifting hours agreed with facilities managers while the laboratories work. See our healthcare and pharma page.

Technology and data buildings

Generator and chiller support steel, plant platforms and mezzanines are erected for technology businesses on the business parks. See our data centre infrastructure page.

New neighbourhoods around the city

Housing and commercial schemes on the edges of Cambridge need frames, canopies and infill walling, usually on open plots. See our construction sector page.

Narrow streets in the historic centre

Plant support steel and small extensions go onto listed buildings, with the stonework and roofs protected along the lift route.

Stores and packhouses on the Fens

Farms and packers around Ely and Chatteris add crop stores and packhouses, and processing halls take new access platforms in their shutdowns. See our food and beverages page.

Lineside steel towards Ely and Newmarket

Canopies, platforms and equipment frames go up beside the railway inside possessions. See our rail sector page.

Planning

Access and planning for steel erection in Cambridge

Before a Cambridge delivery date is fixed, we work through the following:

Part-built frames that hold themselves up. Every stopping point in the sequence leaves the steel stable, with temporary bracing or guys wherever the permanent bracing comes later.
The A14 as the pinch point. Heavy loads come in on the A14 and M11, and the A14 decides arrival times. Loads are packed in erection order and called in to suit, and on a park with no room to store steel, members come straight off the trailer bed.
Cyclists and Cambridgeshire County Council. Central streets carry heavy cycle traffic, so a crane or trailer on the highway needs a closure from the county council, with marshals and the traffic management and road closure we arrange.
Fen and made ground. Outside the city, Fen peat and made ground can be much weaker than the surface suggests. We test bearing at every standing and choose mats to spread each outrigger’s load.
Open country and panel lifts. The flat land around the city gives the wind a clear run. Sheeted panels and long purlins are the first lifts to stop, so each goes up only after a wind reading at working height.

Alterations

Alterations, mezzanines and dismantling

Laboratories and technology units in Cambridge stay occupied while a plant deck or mezzanine is added, and the first job is a survey of the existing frame where the new steel joins it. A crane has no way into a lab block, so members are carried through a door and lifted by the battery-powered pick and carry crane, which suits a clean building.

Where a tenant change means steel coming out, the lift plan covers the dismantling as closely as the erection. Temporary bracing goes in before a load-bearing member is released, and anything going back up is marked at each connection so it goes back the same way.

Coverage

Postcodes and areas we cover

We cover every CB postcode and the districts round the city:

Cambridge: city centre, Cherry Hinton, Trumpington, Newnham and Chesterton
Around the city: Great Shelford, Sawston, Milton, Histon, Waterbeach, Cottenham and Linton
North and east: Ely, Soham, Newmarket and Haverhill
Wider area: St Ives, Huntingdon, St Neots, Royston, Saffron Walden and Bury St Edmunds

We erect steel right across the UK.

Why Synergy

Why Cambridge firms choose Synergy Lifting for steel erection

Plant decks and extensions on occupied labs. Research companies keep their laboratories running while new steel goes up alongside.
Steel for the new schemes around the city. Main contractors on housing and commercial sites get frames, canopies and light gauge walling erected to their programme.
Lift planning and erection in one team. The lift plan is written by our appointed person, and our own gang rigs and bolts the steel to it.
Qualified and accredited. CPCS and CSCS carded operatives, lifts planned to BS 7121 by an appointed person, 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.

Services

More than steel erection

Cambridge steel work can link up with:

Process

How a steel erection job works

Your drawings get us started, along with where the site is and your programme.
Our visit to site fixes crane positions and checks the ground, the way in for trailers, room to lay steel down and any overhead lines.
Then the paperwork: our appointed person’s lift plan, plus a method statement and risk assessment that keep the frame stable at every stage.
The delivery order is fixed with your fabricator, so steel arrives as it will be erected.
Erection comes last: the frame is stood, braced, lined and levelled, and the following trade takes over.

FAQs

Common questions

Our building is on a narrow central street with one place a crane could stand. Is that enough?

It can be. We check what a compact crane can place from that spot, and anything beyond its reach is taken inside and raised there. Photographs of the street help.

Can our packhouse frame go up while the yard is still in use?

Yes. The crane and a fenced lay-down area are set away from your loading bays, and our trailers are booked between your own deliveries. Tell us how the yard runs when you send the drawings.

Who plans the lifts?

We do. An appointed person plans every lift to BS 7121: where the crane stands, what it can place from each position, and how the frame stays stable at every break in the work. The same gang then rigs and erects to that plan.

Can you erect steel where a crane cannot reach?

Yes. Mezzanines and internal platforms go up with gantries, jacking equipment and our electric pick and carry crane, which works indoors without fumes. The steel comes in through a door and is lifted into place inside the building.