Britannia AuctionsBusiness relocation and downsizing sales in Newcastle upon Tyne
Firms on the Tyne move for the water or away from it. An offshore or subsea engineering business that needs quayside access takes a riverside unit at Walker or Newburn. One that has moved into design, testing or smaller assemblies takes a cleaner unit at Benton Square or Kingston Park, or across the river on Team Valley. Either way, the fabrication bay at the old site, with its welding plant, rollers, positioners and overhead cranes, is not going with them.
We sell it by online timed auction. The lots are catalogued where they stand while you finish the last job, viewed on one day and collected in a fixed window after you have left. Construction, plant hire, printing and distribution firms moving around the A1 Western Bypass come to us with a different list, and the sale runs the same way.
Downsizing runs against a lease date instead of a move. We plan back from it.
Fabrication and test kit from the riverside
Subsea and marine fabrication leaves heavy lots. Welding sets by the dozen, column and boom manipulators, rotators, plate rollers, press brakes, and test rigs and pressure test bays that were built for one contract. Some of it suits fabricators and offshore firms anywhere in the country, and bidding online is how they reach it. For the contract specific rigs, our estimate is often the value of the parts, and we say so before the catalogue is written rather than after the sale.
Overhead cranes sell in place with the buyer removing them to a fixed date. We list the span, the capacity and the last inspection.
Machining and inspection equipment from the same firms is lighter and suits the general engineering trade in Gateshead, Cramlington, Blyth and Wallsend, with bidding open nationally online. Where a single large machine is worth more than the rest of the sale, private treaty before the auction is an option.
Buyers from both banks of the river
The route out shapes collection more than anything else about a Newcastle sale. We walk it during our first visit, at Walker as much as at Newburn Riverside or on the A1 estates, and note the road width, the gate, the turning space and where a crane could stand. Heavy lots then get collection slots, and where the road will not take the lift, the buyer arranges a crane or a smaller vehicle.
The trade in Gateshead and Team Valley across the river, in North and South Shields along both banks and in Durham and Morpeth up the A1 is near enough to view in person. The A19 through the Tyne Tunnel links the two sides. Project cargo can leave through the Port of Tyne when a buyer overseas wants a large lot shipped.
We propose a timetable that works back from the day the old premises go back, and how long each stage needs depends on the lots and the access.
What these sales can include
- CNC machine tools
- Presses and press brakes
- Racking and mezzanine floors
- Forklift trucks
- Air compressors
- Workshop tooling and hand tools
- Office furniture and desks
- IT equipment and servers
- Packing and labelling machines
- Welding equipment
- Extraction and dust collection systems
- Vans and light commercial vehicles
How the sale runs
We visit the site, list the lots and photograph them in place. You tell us which items are moving and which are for sale, and we tag the sale lots so there is no confusion on the shop floor.
The catalogue goes online as a timed auction. Bidding stays open for a set period, usually one to two weeks, and each lot closes at a fixed time with an extension if a bid arrives in the last minutes. We hold a viewing day at your premises, and lots are offered as seen under the auction terms, with buyers expected to inspect first.
After the sale we invoice the buyers and take payment. You are paid once the sale is reconciled and the collection window has closed, from cleared funds, less the agreed commission and any agreed costs. Buyers arrange and pay for removal, and our staff attend to release lots against paid invoices.
The business relocation and downsizing sales page covers when a relocation sale makes sense, timing the sale around the move, what to prepare, valuation and reserves, unsold lots and leftovers.
Questions about selling in Newcastle upon Tyne
- We are moving off the riverside to Team Valley. Is our old test bay worth anything?
It depends what it was built for. A pressure test bay with its pumps, instrumentation, valves and a general purpose layout suits other fabricators and offshore firms. A rig built to test one client's product is more often worth its components and its steel. We look at it when we walk the site and give you our opinion, then set a reserve that reflects it. Either way it is a dismantle lot with a fixed removal date.
- Our overhead cranes belong to the building's landlord. What can we sell?
Nothing that is not yours. Cranes, runway beams, wiring and services that came with the lease stay with the building, and we check the lease and the inventory before anything is listed. What you own is the plant beneath them, which is usually the bulk of the value. If the landlord wants the cranes removed as part of the handback, that is a separate conversation, and we can advise on whether they are worth selling on the landlord's behalf.
More questions about relocation sales
Related services
Guides
- Closing a business: a timeline for selling the assets
Work backwards from the day you hand the site over. This guide covers lease end and dilapidations, when to instruct, when staff should leave, when to keep the power on, and how to leave enough room for collection and making good.
- Selling a commercial vehicle fleet
Fleet sales turn on paperwork as much as on price. This guide covers the V5C, MOT and plating documents, clearing finance before listing, keys and livery, recording mileage and tachograph data, and how to defleet in batches while still trading.