Selective demolition

Selective demolition always begins with identifying the client’s needs and objectives and planning the project carefully. At this stage, the key requirements of the project are defined, such as the purpose of the demolition, the structures to be demolished and retained, the schedule, the cost estimate and the opportunities for reusing and recycling demolition materials.

We understand that in the early stages of a project, the key questions are often the cost of demolition, its environmental impact and any structural challenges. As early as the needs assessment stage, we help assess the costs of the demolition project, the potential for reusing and recycling demolition materials and the execution of structurally challenging sites. Our expertise and experience of challenging selective demolition projects support cost-effective, practical and well-planned project delivery right from the start.

Once the client’s needs and objectives have been defined, project planning moves on, depending on the project, to preparing a voluntary pre-demolition audit. The pre-demolition audit builds a comprehensive overall picture of the demolition site, the demolition materials, and the starting points, constraints and details of the demolition work. The information in the pre-demolition audit provides a good basis for the construction and demolition waste notification that is prepared in connection with the building or demolition permit.

The pre-demolition audit assesses the quantity and quality of the materials that demolishing the building will generate, identifies building materials and fixtures suitable for reuse as they are and materials suitable for use as secondary raw materials, and makes a recommendation for recycling the materials. If necessary, a hazardous materials survey, which determines the quantity, location and quality of materials and structures containing hazardous substances and gives instructions for their safe removal, is also carried out before demolition. After the pre-demolition audit, the client selects the demolition contractor best suited to the work.

We carry out all our demolition work with on-site sorting, which means that we carefully sort demolition materials as the work progresses.

We carefully dismantle building materials and fixtures that are suitable for reuse as they are and, depending on the client’s wishes, deliver them for the client’s own use, to our second-hand resale service or to a circular economy operator that handles the resale of reusable products.

Depending on their quality, we direct other demolition materials either to use as secondary raw materials or to recycling. For example, we can process the concrete from demolishing the structural frame into crushed concrete that suits the client’s needs, such as for use in earthworks. We deliver all other demolition materials for recycling to recovery facilities designated for each material fraction.

A successful demolition project concludes with all parties to the project confirming that the work is complete. When the demolition work is finished, we provide our client with waste transfer documents, which record the transport and treatment of the demolition materials as required by law, and waste reports summarising the demolition materials and their reuse and recycling. We also take care of the necessary notifications to the authorities and the related procedures. At the client’s request, we also report the demolition project’s recovery rate and carbon footprint.

At the end of the project, we hold a final inspection at which we go through the details of how the project was carried out together with all parties. At the same time, we make sure that we have carried out the work as agreed and met our client’s expectations.