Pre-demolition checklist for project and facility managers

This checklist is for project managers and council or school facilities staff preparing a building for demolition in Toowoomba and across Queensland. It works through the items in the order they usually hit the program, says who normally owns each one, and points to the rule behind it. The full checklist table near the end of the page can be copied into your own project file.

1. Approvals: start these first

Approvals have the longest lead times, so they set the program.

• Building works approval. Toowoomba Regional Council requires a building works application to remove, demolish or relocate a building, usually lodged through a building certifier.
• Bond decision. Council decides whether a security bond is needed, and any bond must be paid before the building work approval is issued. Council's 2026/27 fee to decide a demolition or removal bond is $394.50 per application.
• Heritage and character. Demolishing all or part of a State or local heritage place or a Neighbourhood Character Place generally needs an impact-assessable development application. Under the Development Assessment Rules, confirmation, public notification and the decision period alone take about 60 business days. See our demolition approvals guide.
• Other councils. Outside the Toowoomba Region, check the local council's requirements. Gatton and the Lockyer Valley, for example, are under Lockyer Valley Regional Council and its own planning scheme.

2. Asbestos: register, survey and removal

This is the item most likely to delay a demolition or blow out its cost.

• Review the register. The person with management or control of a workplace must review the asbestos register before demolition, and revise it if it's inadequate for the work (s 448). A typical register is written for normal building use, so inaccessible areas that demolition will open up, such as wall cavities, under floors and inside plant, often need a further survey.
• Give and get the register. The register must be given to the demolition contractor before work starts (s 449), and the contractor must obtain it (s 450).
• No register. If there isn't one for the structure, demolition can't start until a competent person has inspected it. Where there's doubt, asbestos must be assumed (s 451).
• Remove first. All asbestos likely to be disturbed must be identified and, so far as reasonably practicable, removed before demolition starts (s 452).
• Licence, notice and clearance. Friable asbestos, including low density board, needs a Class A licensed removalist. Licensed removal needs 5 days' written notice to WorkSafe Queensland (s 466) and a clearance certificate before the area is reoccupied for demolition (s 474).

Our Class A asbestos removal team can strip asbestos ahead of demolition under the same program, so there's one contractor and one set of handover documents.

3. Other hazardous materials

Asbestos isn't the only hazard in an older building. WorkSafe Queensland's Demolition Work Code of Practice 2021 lists lead, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), contaminated dust and combustible materials as hazardous materials that may be present. Before demolition, the Code says to examine every area, including basements, cellars, vaults and waste dumps, for:

• items that could be a fire or explosion risk
• risks from the site's previous use, such as decomposing materials
• toxic, radioactive or other hazardous chemicals.

Use the building's old hazardous chemicals register or manifest if there is one, and check for underground fuel tanks. For council depots, workshops and school science blocks, this step often turns up chemicals, fuel or contaminated soil that need their own removal plan. If the land is on the Environmental Management Register or Contaminated Land Register, a soil disposal permit is needed before contaminated soil leaves the site.

4. Services: disconnect early

The Code of Practice calls locating and disconnecting essential services one of the most important parts of pre-demolition planning. All electric, gas, water, sewer, steam and other service lines not needed for the demolition should be shut off, capped or otherwise controlled at or outside the building line before work starts. Each utility should be notified in advance.

Where excavation is part of the job, for slabs, footings and services, the person in control must obtain current underground services information before digging. Before You Dig Australia enquiries are free.

5. Neighbours, adjoining buildings and the public

• Adjoining structures. The Code of Practice says no part of the demolition should affect the structural integrity of any other building. Lateral support for adjoining structures should be maintained or replaced, and vibration controlled, especially near hospitals and buildings with sensitive equipment. Demolition must not cause flooding or water penetration into an adjoining building.
• Dilapidation records. Photograph and record the condition of neighbouring buildings, fences and footpaths before work starts. It protects everyone if a claim is made later. This is good practice rather than a legal requirement.
• Notify neighbours. Write to neighbours and, on a school or council site, building users with the start date, working hours, contact details, and the dust, noise and traffic controls. On sites where asbestos removal is happening, the person with management or control must also tell their own workers and others at the workplace before removal starts (s 468).
• Exclusion zones. Fence the site and set exclusion zones where falling objects could land, extending a safe distance beyond any overhead work.

6. Traffic and road reserve

If the job needs to use the road or footpath, Toowoomba Regional Council requires a permit to undertake works within the road reserve first. That includes temporary closures, cranes or plant on the road, scaffolding on the footpath, or a work support zone. Applications need a traffic management plan with a site-specific risk assessment and traffic guidance schemes, or a SWMS for short-term, low-impact worksites. For school and hospital sites, plan truck movements around drop-off and pick-up times and ambulance access.

7. Licences, notices and the demolition plan

• Demolition licence. Most commercial demolition needs a WorkSafe Queensland demolition licence. That includes work using excavators or other load-shifting machinery, structures with pre-tensioned or post-tensioned components, and explosives.
• Notice. Give WorkSafe Queensland 5 days' written notice before demolishing a load-bearing structure 6 m or higher, using load-shifting machinery on a suspended floor, or using explosives (s 142).
• SWMS. Demolition of load-bearing elements, asbestos disturbance, work near energised services and work at height over 2 m are all high risk construction work and need a safe work method statement.
• Demolition plan. The Code of Practice says a demolition plan should be prepared for every demolition involving more than one business, such as subcontractors.

8. Recycling targets

Set the recycling target in the contract, not after the fact. Recycling cuts disposal costs:

• Toowoomba Regional Council's 2026/27 commercial gate fee is $64.85 per tonne for clean concrete, against $289 per tonne for general waste.
• Material that is recycled attracts no Queensland waste levy. The levy is $100 per tonne for general waste in the regional zone in 2026-27.

Ask each tenderer for a recycling target by material and for the receiving facility for each stream. Burke Industries aims to recycle at least 85% of demolition material and crushes concrete at its own Toowoomba facility. On High Street Plaza, about 8,000 tonnes of crushed concrete went back to the site for reuse.

9. Handover documents: agree them up front

List the handover documents in the contract so nothing is missing at the end. Expect:

• the asbestos removal control plan, air monitoring results (for friable work) and clearance certificates
• WorkSafe Queensland notifications for asbestos removal and notifiable demolition
• Ergon's written confirmation of electricity removal, and evidence of water, gas and drain disconnection
• waste and recycling records by material, with receiving facilities
• a site condition record (levelled, made safe, slab or footings removed as specified)
• an updated asbestos register for any structures that remain.

The asbestos documents we supply on licensed jobs are listed on our asbestos removal page for Toowoomba and the Darling Downs.

The pre-demolition checklist

For the full demolition, from strip-out to a level site, see our licensed building demolition service in Toowoomba.

Frequently asked questions

Get a pre-demolition site assessment

Send us the address, the buildings to be demolished, the asbestos register and your target date. We'll walk the site with you, flag the approvals, asbestos, hazardous materials, services and traffic items on this checklist, and give you a scoped demolition program and price.

Book a pre-demolition site assessment

Or see our commercial demolition service in Toowoomba.

Sources

1. Toowoomba Regional Council: Removal of buildings. : building works application, bond, drains sealed by a licensed plumber, heritage and character DAs.
2. TRC 2026/27 register of fees and charges. : bond determination fee $394.50, water disconnection $500.85, gate fees ($64.85 per tonne clean concrete, $289 per tonne general waste).
3. Development Assessment Rules guidance (July 2024). : confirmation, notification and decision periods.
4. Lockyer Valley Regional Council: planning scheme
5. Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld). : s 142 (demolition notice), s 291 (high risk construction work), s 304 (underground services), ss 448–452 (asbestos before demolition), s 466 (asbestos notice), s 468 (telling persons at the workplace), ss 473–474 (clearance).
6. WorkSafe Queensland: Demolition Work Code of Practice 2021. : hazardous materials (lead, PCBs, contaminated dust, combustibles), examining basements, cellars, vaults and waste dumps, adjoining buildings, essential services, exclusion zones, the demolition plan where there is more than one business.
7. WorkSafe Queensland: demolition licence. ; .
8. Ergon Energy: remove your connection. : 20 business days urban; written confirmation before demolition.
9. Red Energy QLD service charges. : Allgas abolishment by quote.
10. Before You Dig Australia
11. TRC: temporary road or footpath closure and road reserve works permits. : traffic management plan, traffic guidance schemes, SWMS for short-term low-impact sites.
12. Queensland Government: soil disposal permit. ; .
13. Burke additional services. and : 85% recycling target, crushing facility, High Street Plaza.