Steel Erection Plymouth

Packages

Steel + more

Cladding, roofing and demolition too

Coverage

Plymouth

PL postcodes

Quotes

Same day

For most enquiries

Overview

Steel erection in Plymouth and across south west Devon

Plymouth steel goes up on regeneration plots around the water and on the city’s industrial estates. Waterfront housing and office schemes need their frames and infill walling put up. On the estates, from Faraday Mill near the centre to Burrington in the north and Lee Mill out on the A38, manufacturers add bays and storage floors, and marine engineers by the water put up new workshops.

The estates also take portal frame units and platform steel, and the waterfront schemes need their frames taken up level by level beside the quays. Gangs work in Plympton, Plymstock and Estover, out at Ivybridge and Tavistock, and on the Cornish side of the river in Saltash and Torpoint. For a new unit at Lee Mill or Estover, drawings and photographs are enough for a price the same working day.

What steel erection covers

Our erectors put up the steel your fabricator supplies, bolt it up, line and level it, and fit the bracing, secondary steel and any LFS or SFS framing. Existing frames come down when a boatyard or workshop is reorganised. A marine engineer taking a new bay can have the sheeting and the machine moves done by us as well.

What we do

What we erect in Plymouth

Structure	Where it goes up	What sets the method
Frames for waterfront and city schemes	Regeneration plots around the centre and the water	Base levels across the plot and the order of the bays
Workshop bays and extensions	Marine engineering yards	The older frame being tied into, checked on site first
Portal frame units	Burrington, Eurotech Park and Lee Mill	Crane set-ups along the building and when the end bays are braced
Mezzanines and storage floors	Units at Faraday Mill and Estover	Doorway size and the height under the haunch
Light gauge infill (LFS and SFS)	Residential and commercial blocks	How bundles are landed on each slab edge
Plant steel and link bridges	Health, college and school buildings	Occupied rooms and routes below each lift

The full scope is 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 01752 712 008

Sectors

Where we work in and around Plymouth

These are the places Plymouth steel goes up.

Regeneration plots by the water

Frames, canopies and light gauge walls for residential and commercial schemes go up around the waterfront and the city centre, from Stonehouse to Plymstock. See our construction sector page.

New bays for manufacturers on the city estates

Extensions, lean-tos and mezzanine floors are added for engineering and building supply firms at Burrington, Estover and Faraday Mill, with the business running alongside. See our industrial sector page.

Sheds for boatyards and marine engineers

Workshop bays, boat sheds and platform steel go up for repair and fit-out firms along the waterfront, next to work that carries on. See our maritime sector page.

Portal frames at Lee Mill and Eurotech Park

New units and warehouses rise on plots at Lee Mill, beside the A38, and at Eurotech Park off the A386, where a crane can set up alongside the building.

Link bridges on clinics, colleges and schools

A covered link between two blocks, a small extension or a frame for a new chiller on the roof goes up while the building is in use, with the heavier lifts timed to school holidays or the quiet end of the day. See our healthcare and pharma and education pages.

Planning

Access and planning for steel erection in Plymouth

For a Plymouth frame we settle these before the fabricator loads anything:

Plots that fall towards the water. Waterfront and hillside sites slope, so each crane position is levelled on mats and packing, and the ground under the outriggers is checked for fill and old walls.
Exposure on the Sound. Waterside plots take wind straight off Plymouth Sound, and a large LFS panel or light purlin becomes unsafe to lift in gusts the crane could handle, so each day’s lifts are set against the forecast.
Delivery order for tight plots. Trailers arrive packed to the erection sequence, first bays on top, so steel lifts straight off the bed where there is nowhere to lay it down.
Guys until the bracing is in. A part-built frame is never left relying on bolts alone, and wire guys hold each stage against the wind off the Sound until the permanent bracing follows.
Plymouth City Council and Cornwall Council. Road space is booked with Plymouth City Council, or with Cornwall Council for Saltash and Torpoint, and we set out the traffic management and road closure.

Alterations

Alterations, mezzanines and dismantling

When a marine engineering shop by the water takes on an extra bay, the work inside it usually carries on while the new steel goes up. The old frame the bay joins is surveyed before any connection is detailed. Inside, where a crane has no reach, a storage floor is built up from the workshop floor while the boats and machines around it stay put.

Taking a frame down follows a sequence planned around what remains, so the structure stays stable as members are released one by one. Steel heading for re-erection is match-marked, which lets it go back together in the same arrangement at its next site.

Coverage

Postcodes and areas we cover

We cover every PL postcode and the districts around the city:

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

We erect steel right across the UK.

Why Synergy

Why Plymouth firms choose Synergy Lifting for steel erection

Frames for the regeneration schemes. Contractors on residential and commercial plots around the waterfront bring us in for frames, canopies and infill walls.
Bays and floors for local manufacturers. Firms on the estates from Faraday Mill to Lee Mill use us to extend their units and add mezzanines.
Rigging and erection by the same gang. Our appointed person sets out the crane positions, and the erectors who sling each member are the ones who bolt it home.
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 that fit around Plymouth steelwork:

Process

How a steel erection job works

Drawings and a steel schedule, the plot’s address and the programme dates set the enquiry going.
A site visit checks where the crane can stand, the ground and any slope, how trailers get in, where steel can be laid down and what runs overhead.
The lift plan comes from our appointed person, and the method statement and risk assessment built on it show how the frame is kept stable at every stage.
The fabricator loads to a sequence we agree together.
Our gang stands the columns, fits the rafters and bracing, lines and levels everything, and hands the finished frame over.

FAQs

Common questions

Our mezzanine is going into a unit at Estover. Can the steel come through a standard roller shutter?

In most units, yes. Members are detailed to fit through the loading door, with a splice in any longer beam where your engineer agrees. Door size and headroom inside are measured at the site visit.

Our waterfront scheme needs LFS walls on several floors. How do the panels get up?

By crane, in bundles landed on each slab edge in the order the walls are built, with lifts timed around the wind forecast. Where a floor is already closed in, smaller members travel up inside the building.

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.