Gregory Demolition Demolition insight for UK property developers

Gregory Demolition

Demolition insight for UK property developers

Latest Articles

Between Last Tenant and First Pile: Fire Planning for the Demolition Interval
Safety & Compliance

Between Last Tenant and First Pile: Fire Planning for the Demolition Interval

Demolition sites face fire risks that a generic construction phase plan rarely captures: hot works, temporary power, waste stockpiles, arson and changing fire service access. This article sets out what a demolition-specific fire plan should contain and how developers can test it before work starts.
When the Canopy Sets the Programme: Tree Protection as a Demolition Control
Safety & Compliance

When the Canopy Sets the Programme: Tree Protection as a Demolition Control

Tree protection is often treated as a planning drawing rather than a live demolition control. On constrained UK sites, access routes, compounds and crane bases can damage protected trees before demolition starts. This article sets out a practical sequence for developers in 2026.
The Railway's Veto: Sequencing Lineside Demolition Before the Programme Hardens
Safety & Compliance

The Railway's Veto: Sequencing Lineside Demolition Before the Programme Hardens

Demolishing beside a live railway is less a matter of machine selection than of consent sequence. Developers who treat Network Rail asset protection and possession dates as early programme constraints avoid expensive redesign later.
The Unseen Obstacle: Integrating UXO Risk Into Demolition Planning
Safety & Compliance

The Unseen Obstacle: Integrating UXO Risk Into Demolition Planning

Unexploded ordnance is an uncommon but material risk on many UK brownfield and urban regeneration sites. This article explains when a UXO desk study is warranted, how it should align with demolition and ground investigations, and what evidence contractors should provide before intrusive work begins.
The Insolvency Clause Is Not Enough: A Demolition Continuity Playbook for Developers
Commercial & Procurement

The Insolvency Clause Is Not Enough: A Demolition Continuity Playbook for Developers

A demolition contractor's insolvency is rarely a clean stop-work event. This article sets out how UK developers can secure the site, untangle plant and material ownership, manage subcontractors and appoint a replacement contractor without losing programme control in 2026.
The Consent Before the Cutting: Section 61 and Demolition Noise Strategy
Safety & Compliance

The Consent Before the Cutting: Section 61 and Demolition Noise Strategy

Section 61 prior consent under the Control of Pollution Act 1974 can fix working hours, methods and monitoring before demolition begins. Developers should treat it as a programme and procurement issue, not a post-mobilisation reaction to complaints.
Before Exchange: Why Waste Duty of Care Belongs in Demolition Due Diligence
Safety & Compliance

Before Exchange: Why Waste Duty of Care Belongs in Demolition Due Diligence

Developers often test a demolition price and programme long before they test the waste paper trail. This article sets out how duty of care, waste classification and transfer documentation should be built into acquisition, tender and handover.
Salvage With Its Own Scope: Why Soft Strip Should Never Be a Single Tender Line
Commercial & Procurement

Salvage With Its Own Scope: Why Soft Strip Should Never Be a Single Tender Line

Folding soft strip into a lump-sum demolition price hides the salvage value, blurs the asbestos interface and removes any incentive to segregate waste at source. This article argues for giving the strip phase its own scope, programme and tender line.
Isolation Before Isolation: Sequencing Utility Disconnections Ahead of Demolition
Safety & Compliance

Isolation Before Isolation: Sequencing Utility Disconnections Ahead of Demolition

Utility isolation is routinely treated as an administrative formality and then becomes the reason a demolition start date moves by a quarter. This guide sets out who owns each asset, how long the statutory processes actually take, and where the cost traps sit on urban UK sites.
Ground Risk Before the First Hammer: A Pre-Demolition Checklist for Developers
Commercial & Procurement

Ground Risk Before the First Hammer: A Pre-Demolition Checklist for Developers

Fuel tanks, redundant foundations, contamination, buried services and archaeology can sit unnoticed beneath a demolition site. This article sets out a developer's pre-demolition ground-risk checklist and explains why early investigation protects programme and cost.
The Asbestos Report Is Not the Demolition Survey: A Scope Check for Developers
Safety & Compliance

The Asbestos Report Is Not the Demolition Survey: A Scope Check for Developers

A report titled refurbishment and demolition survey can still be scoped around refurbishment works, leaving demolition areas uninspected. This article explains how UK developers can check the scope, brief the surveyor and avoid buying a document that does not cover the work.
The Notice Before the Scaffold: Party Wall Procedure on Demolition and Adjacent Excavation
Safety & Compliance

The Notice Before the Scaffold: Party Wall Procedure on Demolition and Adjacent Excavation

The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 is short, technical and unforgiving of late starts. This practical guide sets out when demolition and adjacent excavation trigger notice, how awards and schedules of condition work, and what happens to a programme when party wall strategy is left until the scaffold is already standing.
The Stage 2 Seat: Giving Demolition a Place at the Concept Design Table
Commercial & Procurement

The Stage 2 Seat: Giving Demolition a Place at the Concept Design Table

Demolition is still routinely procured after planning, long after the decisions that shape it have been locked in. This piece argues that a demolition contractor appointed at RIBA Stage 2 changes surveys, waste strategy, party wall planning and the main works programme for the better - and at a fraction of the cost of unpicking them later.
Consent Before Concrete: Demolition Programming in Conservation Areas
Commercial & Procurement

Consent Before Concrete: Demolition Programming in Conservation Areas

Demolition inside a conservation area is an evidential exercise long before it becomes a construction one. This guide sets out how developers can sequence heritage assessment, surveys and condition discharge so that clearance work supports the planning timetable rather than wrecking it.
Robot-Washing the Tender: What Automated Demolition Can and Cannot Do on UK Urban Sites
Safety & Compliance

Robot-Washing the Tender: What Automated Demolition Can and Cannot Do on UK Urban Sites

Remote-controlled demolition machines are transforming work in confined, structurally sensitive spaces — and being oversold in tender documents. Here is a clear-eyed assessment of where automation genuinely reduces risk, where it remains impractical, and the questions developers should insist on asking in 2026.
Containing the Commotion: Neighbour Management on Tight Urban Demolition Sites
Safety & Compliance

Containing the Commotion: Neighbour Management on Tight Urban Demolition Sites

On constrained urban sites, the final hour of the working day is where goodwill is most often lost. A practical look at Section 61 consents, dust monitoring, vibration limits and liaison arrangements that keep a demolition programme moving without turning the street against it.
Reuse Before Removal: Making the Pre-Demolition Audit Pay
Commercial & Procurement

Reuse Before Removal: Making the Pre-Demolition Audit Pay

Too many demolition contracts are still written as disposal exercises. A properly scoped pre-demolition audit turns a building into a schedule of reusable assets — and gives developers defensible evidence for planning, carbon and cost claims.
Cheap Bids, Costly Variations: Seven Warning Signs in a Demolition Tender
Commercial & Procurement

Cheap Bids, Costly Variations: Seven Warning Signs in a Demolition Tender

A demolition price that comes in well below the rest of the field is rarely a demonstration of efficiency. Here are seven tell-tale signs that a bid has been built on omission rather than insight, and what each one tends to cost a developer once work starts.
Evidence Before Excavation: What Demolition Contractors Must Prove on Higher-Risk Buildings in 2026
Safety & Compliance

Evidence Before Excavation: What Demolition Contractors Must Prove on Higher-Risk Buildings in 2026

The Building Safety Act has moved from headline legislation to daily reality on higher-risk sites. For developers, the practical question in 2026 is what evidence a demolition contractor should be able to put on the table before mobilisation — and what it costs when that evidence arrives late.