Steel Erection Durham

Packages

Steel + more

Cladding, roofing and demolition too

Coverage

Durham

DH and DL postcodes

Quotes

Same day

For most enquiries

Overview

Steel erection in Durham and across County Durham

Automotive and engineering firms at Newton Aycliffe, Spennymoor and Consett need extra bays and new units. Rural generation sites need equipment platforms, and teaching, hospital and office buildings in and around the city take plant decks and extensions. On the peninsula, narrow and weight-restricted streets decide which crane can stand where.

The steel comes from your fabricator and we erect it, whether that is a plant deck on a rural generation site or a new unit of several bays at Newton Aycliffe. Our Darlington depot is down the A1(M) from the city, and we work from Chester-le-Street and Stanley down to Bishop Auckland, Crook and Barnard Castle. Drawings and photographs of an extra bay at Spennymoor or Consett are usually enough to quote it the same working day.

What steel erection covers

Erection means standing the frame, bolting it up, lining and levelling it, and fitting bracing and secondary steel, with LFS and SFS light gauge framing as part of the work. We take down existing steel as well, when a works is being rearranged. A factory extension can come to us complete, with the walls and roof sheeted and the new machines set in place.

What we do

What we erect in Durham

Structure	Where it goes up	What sets the method
Platforms and support frames for energy plant	Wind farms, solar sites and waste plants	The outage window and the order steel goes in around live equipment
New bays on production halls	Automotive and engineering works at Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor	How the new steel ties into the existing frame
Small frames and rooftop steel	Commercial buildings in the city centre	Where each member lands on the existing roof
Link bridges and plant decks	Teaching and hospital buildings	Which routes and entrances stay open during each lift
Portal frames and light gauge framing	Regeneration schemes at Chester-le-Street and Consett	Crane set-ups per building and the wall order for the framing
Frames taken down and moved	Units being refitted or vacated	What holds the remaining steel up, and match-marking

You can read about the whole service on our steel erection and dismantling 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 0191 313 0049

Sectors

Where we work in and around Durham

Durham steel jobs come from across the county.

Production halls for the car supply chain

Extensions, extra bays and mezzanines go up for automotive suppliers on the Newton Aycliffe estates, planned around production that keeps running. See our automotive sector page.

Small frames in the historic city centre

Rooftop steel, canopies and small frames for shops and offices go up on and around the peninsula. See our construction sector page.

Equipment platforms at rural generation sites

Access walkways, equipment platforms and frames for new plant are erected at wind, solar and waste sites out in the country, fitted into the operator’s outage dates. See our power and renewables page.

New bays on the Spennymoor and Consett estates

Portal frames and lean-to bays go up for engineering and specialist production firms that need more floor space. See our industrial sector page.

Link bridges for teaching and hospital buildings

Link bridges, plant decks and small extensions are erected on buildings that stay open, with the heavier lifts timed to holidays. See our healthcare and pharma and education pages.

Regeneration schemes around Chester-le-Street

Light gauge framing and frames for mixed-use buildings go up on regeneration plots across the north of the county.

Planning

Access and planning for steel erection in Durham

A Durham frame starts with these five questions answered:

Closures in the city and beyond. The peninsula’s streets are narrow, cobbled in places and weight restricted, so where a crane can stand is settled before the machine is chosen. For a lane or pavement anywhere in the county we apply to Durham County Council and provide the traffic management and road closure.
Lift plan in hand before fabrication. Our appointed person sets the crane positions and reach while the steel is still to be made, and the delivery sequence is built from that.
Each stage left standing. Bracing goes in as the frame rises, and temporary braces or guys hold any bay that has to wait for its permanent bracing.
Colliery ground. Old shallow workings and tipped spoil lie under plots across the former coalfield. Bearing is checked at each crane position and mats are sized to suit.
Wind on high ground. Sites around Consett and up Weardale are high and open, and light members or large panels can be caught by gusts long before the crane nears its limit, so those lifts wait for a suitable forecast.

Alterations

Alterations, mezzanines and dismantling

In a Consett workshop that carries on working, the existing frame gets surveyed first, and new members are connected to it only once that is done. Where the workshop roof keeps a crane out, members are carried in through the doors and lifted from the floor.

When steel comes down, each release is planned so the frame left behind stays stable, with props where a gap would weaken it. Anything going back up is match-marked while it is still in the frame.

Coverage

Postcodes and areas we cover

We cover the DH and DL postcodes across County Durham:

DH1, DH6 to DH9: Durham city, Bowburn, Coxhoe, Shotton Colliery, Langley Moor, Esh Winning, Lanchester, Consett, Stanley and Annfield Plain
DH2 to DH5: Chester-le-Street, Birtley, Houghton-le-Spring and Hetton-le-Hole
DL1 to DL5: Darlington, Shildon and Newton Aycliffe
DL12 to DL17: Barnard Castle, Weardale, Bishop Auckland, Crook, Spennymoor and Ferryhill

We erect steel right across the UK.

Why Synergy

Why Durham firms choose Synergy Lifting for steel erection

Steel for the county’s energy sites. Platforms and support frames go up at generation sites, many of them well out in the countryside.
Frames for production halls. Automotive and engineering firms at Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor get new bays and extensions from us.
The same operatives rig and bolt. Whoever slings a member stays with it until it is bolted, and the crane positions they work from are the ones in the lift plan.
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

Other services Durham steel projects use:

Process

How a steel erection job works

It starts with your drawings and steel schedule, the site address and the programme.
Our lift planner sees the site in person to check standing positions, ground, delivery access, lay-down and overhead lines.
From that visit come the lift plan, the method statement and the risk assessment, with temporary stability set out for each break.
The fabricator’s loading list is matched to our erection sequence.
We raise, brace, line and level the frame, then hand it to whoever follows.

FAQs

Common questions

Our extension is in the city centre near the peninsula. Can a crane get close enough?

Usually. On the peninsula the crane may have to stand a street away from the plot, so photographs and the nearest road wide enough for it help us answer quickly. A compact city crane can place the lighter members where a larger machine will not fit.

Our Newton Aycliffe hall keeps producing. Can a new bay go up alongside the line?

Yes. The crane works from outside the building, the new bay is braced before the wall between is opened up, and any lift near the working floor is timed with your production manager.

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.