Demolition prior notification and structural safety

Demolition prior approval is a planning application in everything but name, and it runs alongside a completely separate notice to building control under the Building Act 1984. Missing either one is common, and the Building Act notice is the one people forget, because it is served on a different department and triggers a six week period before work may start.

Demolition is a building operation under section 55(1A) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, so it is development. Part 11 of Schedule 2 to the General Permitted Development Order 2015 then grants permitted development rights for most demolition, subject to prior approval of the method and of any proposed restoration of the site.

When notification is needed and when permission is

Three routes exist, and picking the wrong one costs weeks.

Prior approval under Part 11 is the normal route for demolishing a building outside a conservation area where no heritage designation applies. Full planning permission is needed where a direction takes the building outside Part 11, which includes unlisted buildings in conservation areas. Listed building consent is needed for demolition of a listed building, and that is a separate consent with its own tests and its own criminal offence for unauthorised work.

Small structures fall outside the regime. Buildings below a stated cubic content, and most gates, fences, walls and other means of enclosure, do not need prior approval, although walls in conservation areas are treated differently. Read the current text of Part 11 rather than working from memory, because the exclusions and the thresholds have been amended.

Urgent demolition for safety reasons is treated separately, and it is not a licence to clear a site. Where a building really is dangerous, the local authority has its own powers under the Building Act, and acting without engaging them is a poor position to be in afterwards.

What prior approval actually covers

The prior approval is narrow. It covers the method of demolition and any proposed restoration of the site. It does not reopen the principle of demolition, and the council cannot refuse because it would prefer the building stayed.

Expect the submission to include a method statement, a site plan showing the extent of demolition and any structures retained, a description of hoarding and site security, the proposed restoration treatment of the cleared site, and details of vehicle movements and hours. There is a period for the authority to decide whether its approval is required, a site notice requirement, and a restriction on starting before the period has run. Check the current periods in Part 11 before building them into a programme.

Restoration is the part applicants under-think. A cleared site left as hardcore behind a plywood hoarding in a town centre is a policy problem, and authorities increasingly ask for a surfaced, drained and maintained condition, sometimes with temporary planting or a meanwhile use.

Notices under the Building Act and to utilities

Section 80 of the Building Act 1984 requires notice of intended demolition to the local authority, with copies to the occupiers of adjoining buildings and to the gas and electricity undertakers. The water undertaker should be notified as well, and in practice a service disconnection request to each utility is needed regardless of the notice.

The authority may serve a counter-notice under section 81 requiring works. The recurring requirements are shoring and support to adjoining buildings, weatherproofing exposed surfaces, sealing and disconnection of sewers and drains, removal of rubbish, capping of services and making good the surface of the ground.

Demolition must not start before the periods in the Act have run, and a counter-notice can require work that changes the sequence entirely. Serve the section 80 notice at the same time as applying for prior approval, not afterwards.

Method statements and structural sequencing

The method statement is an engineering document and should read like one. It sets out the sequence of removal, the temporary works needed to keep what remains stable at each stage, and the point at which each element loses its support.

Five things belong in it. A description of the existing structure and how it carries load, drawn from a Structural Survey rather than assumed. The demolition sequence, stage by stage, with drawings. The temporary works, including propping, needling, tying and facade retention where relevant. The plant proposed, with reach, weight and standing positions checked against floor and ground capacities. And the protection measures for adjoining property, the highway and the public.

Partial demolition deserves particular care. Removing the rear half of a terrace, or taking a building down to a retained facade, changes the load paths in ways that are easy to get wrong, and BS 6187 is the code of practice to work to.

Asbestos governs the programme more often than anything else. A refurbishment and demolition survey under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 has to be done before work starts, and a positive result brings licensed removal, notification periods and a different waste stream.

Conservation areas and listed buildings

Demolishing an unlisted building in a conservation area needs planning permission, and the test is not simply whether the building is attractive. The question is the effect on the character or appearance of the area, and a council is entitled to ask what will replace it before agreeing to lose it.

That leads to the most reliable piece of tactical advice in this field. Apply for demolition and the replacement scheme together. A standalone demolition application in a conservation area invites refusal on the basis that the site would be left as a gap, and permission for the replacement scheme usually carries the demolition with it.

For listed buildings, total demolition is granted very rarely, and the evidence needed runs to condition surveys, repair costings, marketing evidence and an assessment of the effect on significance. Budget for a long process.

Party walls and adjoining structures

The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 is a civil regime, separate from planning and from building control, and it is not optional. Notices are required for works to a party structure, for demolition and rebuilding of a party wall, and for excavation within three or six metres of an adjoining structure depending on depth.

Notice periods are measured in months, not weeks, and an adjoining owner who dissents triggers the appointment of surveyors and an award. Serve early. A party wall dispute discovered after the contractor is on site is the most expensive kind of delay because nothing can proceed while it runs.

Take a schedule of condition of adjoining properties before anything moves. It costs little and it is the only defence against a claim that a crack predating the works was caused by them.

Programming demolition ahead of the main consent

The temptation to clear a site early is strong and it carries four risks worth naming.

You may not get permission for what replaces it. Clearing habitat before the ecological baseline is recorded can damage the biodiversity position, because the assessment looks at what was there rather than what is left. Demolishing removes the option of a retention and reuse argument, which matters where embodied carbon is a policy consideration. And material leaving site uncatalogued loses the reuse value that a Pre-redevelopment Audit is meant to capture.

Where demolition does run ahead, treat it as a construction phase with its own controls: a Construction Management Plan, agreed hours, wheel washing, dust suppression and a route agreement with the highway authority. On higher-risk buildings, check how the demolition and rebuild programme interacts with the building safety gateways, which is covered in the note on Gateways Two and Three.

To see which documents a demolition and redevelopment project is likely to need, enter your postcode on PlanScope and answer the guided questions.

This is general guidance, not legal advice, so check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.