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Drawing set · Six sheets

Demolition: how a building comes down safely

A guide to demolition in plain words, published by Dotto from the official sources linked on each page. Six sheets, in the order the work happens: approval, heritage, asbestos, services, the demolition itself, and what becomes of the rubble.

Go to the sequence · Read the general notes

Section through a house to be demolished A two-storey house drawn in dashed lines, meaning to be removed, between two neighbouring buildings drawn solid. Six numbered circles point to the site boundary, the facade, the wall sheeting, the underground service line, the roof ridge and a heap of rubble. 1 2 3 4 5 6
Dashed: to be removed. Solid and hatched: kept. Stage 5 starts at the ridge, because the model code says a structure should generally come down in reverse order to its construction, from the roof or top.
Drawing
Demolition sequence, general arrangement
Sheets
01 to 06
Scale
Not to scale
Checked
8 Oct 2026

The sequence

Six stages, in the order they happen

Much of a demolition is done before anything is knocked down. The model code for demolition work calls the location and disconnection of all essential services one of the most important elements of planning, and it wants asbestos likely to be disturbed found and, so far as reasonably practicable, removed before demolition starts.

  1. Sheet 01

    Approval to demolish

    Exempt, complying or a development application in NSW; a demolition permit in WA.

  2. Sheet 02

    Heritage checks

    Searching the state and local heritage lists before a wall is touched.

  3. Sheet 03

    Asbestos before demolition

    Finding it, assuming it where unsure, and having it removed by the right licence first.

  4. Sheet 04

    Disconnecting services

    Power, gas, water and the cables and pipes underground.

  5. Sheet 05

    Demolition is high risk work

    What the work health and safety rules ask of the people doing the work.

  6. Sheet 06

    Recycling demolition waste

    What can be recovered from the rubble, and the owner’s duty for the rest.

General notes

Notes that apply to every sheet

  1. Demolition is high risk construction workUnder the model work health and safety laws, demolishing a load-bearing element of a structure, or one otherwise related to the structure’s physical integrity, is high risk construction work, and a safe work method statement must be prepared before it starts.
  2. Some demolitions must be notifiedThe regulator must be given written notice at least five days before demolition of a structure at least 6 metres high, demolition using load shifting machinery on a suspended floor, or demolition with explosives.
  3. Asbestos stays with the professionalsThe Asbestos and Silica Safety and Eradication Agency says it is “not recommended that you handle or remove asbestos yourself”, and in some places the law goes further: in the Australian Capital Territory any removal needs a licensed removalist, unless it is part of minor routine maintenance or other minor work, and in Queensland a home owner must be trained before taking out more than 10 square metres of non-friable material, and only a removalist holding a Class A licence may remove friable material. The agency adds that asbestos waste can only go to a landfill licensed to accept it.
  4. Services go firstElectric, gas, water, sewer and other service lines the work does not need should be shut off, capped or controlled in some other way, at the building line or outside it, before demolition starts, with the utility told in advance.
  5. Plans for what is undergroundBefore You Dig Australia lets anyone request plans of underground utilities at a site for free, though the plans show where assets are present, not their exact location.
  6. Waste has an ownerIn NSW, the owner of waste and whoever transports it are both legally responsible for proving it went to a place that could lawfully accept it.

About this set

How these sheets are drawn

Each sheet is written from the regulators’ own pages: Safe Work Australia’s model code for demolition work, the NSW and WA planning, heritage and safety bodies, the NSW Environment Protection Authority, and the network operators and services named on each sheet. The source for every figure and rule sits beside it, and each sheet lists its sources at the foot.

Safe Work Australia’s model work health and safety laws have been implemented in every jurisdiction except Victoria, and a model code of practice has legal effect only once a jurisdiction approves it. So where a sheet quotes the model code, check your own state’s version with your state’s regulator. In Victoria, EPA Victoria points builders to WorkSafe Victoria for health and safety guidance.

Planning rules change. NSW, for one, exhibited proposed changes to complying development between 14 May and 24 June 2026 and plans to finalise them later this year. Where a sheet and the official page disagree, the official page is right.