Gregory Demolition Demolition insight for UK property developers

Gregory Demolition

Demolition insight for UK property developers

Latest Articles

Before the Chillers Go: Evidencing F-Gas Recovery in Demolition Scopes
Safety & Compliance

Before the Chillers Go: Evidencing F-Gas Recovery in Demolition Scopes

Refrigerants in chillers, cold stores and comfort cooling are often treated as ordinary plant removal, yet F-Gas recovery is a regulated activity that must happen before dismantling. This article sets out how developers can name the activity in tender documents, secure the right handover records and sequence recovery without holding up soft strip.
The Design Behind the Prop: Temporary Works Ownership on UK Demolition Sites
Safety & Compliance

The Design Behind the Prop: Temporary Works Ownership on UK Demolition Sites

Temporary works frequently fall between the developer’s permanent-works information and the demolition contractor’s method statement, leaving propping, façade retention and basement support weakly defined at tender. This article examines where design responsibility sits under CDM 2015, what a developer should verify before mobilisation, and how to prevent a movement incident from becoming a variation dispute.
Strand by Strand: De-Risking Post-Tensioned Car Park Demolition
Safety & Compliance

Strand by Strand: De-Risking Post-Tensioned Car Park Demolition

Failed retail and car park assets can appear straightforward to strip out, but post-tensioned concrete conceals force within the frame. Developers should commission a structural survey that fixes strand layout, anchorage zones and temporary stability before tender, and specify a controlled de-tensioning sequence.
Permission to Occupy the Kerb: Highway Consents as a Demolition Procurement Risk
Commercial & Procurement

Permission to Occupy the Kerb: Highway Consents as a Demolition Procurement Risk

Highway licences for hoarding, scaffolding, skips and footway closures are often treated as site logistics rather than programme risk. This article explains how permit lead times and conditions can fix a demolition start date, and how developers can allocate responsibility and cost in the tender before the programme hardens.
The Season Before the Strip-Out: Ecology as a Demolition Programme Constraint
Safety & Compliance

The Season Before the Strip-Out: Ecology as a Demolition Programme Constraint

Protected species can turn a straightforward demolition sequence into a seasonal puzzle. This article explains what developers should establish before soft strip, how ecological timetables should feed into the demolition method statement, and why a late ecology check can cost more programme time than a late tender query.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.

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