18.3 Demolition Work and Structural Stability

18.3 Demolition Work and Structural Stability

[!NOTE] SACPCMP Blueprint Context: Construction Regulation 14 (Demolition work) and Construction Regulation 11 (Structures) are core "Construction/Building Technology" content — item 16 of the Annexure B core knowledge list and one of the five CHSO Initial Professional Development Modules in Annexure C. Demolition also triggers a Regulation 4 notification in its own right, which makes it examinable from several angles.

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1. Demolition Triggers a Notification

CR 4(1)(c) requires a contractor intending to carry out construction work that will include the demolition of a structure to notify the provincial director in writing on a form similar to Annexure 2 at least 7 days before that work is carried out — unless the project already requires a Regulation 3 construction work permit. There is no size threshold: demolishing a single-storey outbuilding triggers the notification just as a multi-storey strip-out does.

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2. The Regulation 14 Sequence

Construction Regulation 14 sets out a sequence that a CHSO should be able to recite in order, because examination scenarios almost always turn on a step being taken out of order.

Step 1 — Appoint (CR 14(1)). A contractor must appoint a competent person in writing to supervise and control all demolition work on site.

Step 2 — Survey and method statement (CR 14(2)). Before any demolition work is carried out, and in order to ascertain the method of demolition to be used, a detailed structural engineering survey of the structure to be demolished must be carried out by a competent person, and a method statement on the procedure to be followed must be developed by that person. The survey drives the method; a method statement written before the survey has the logic backwards.

Step 3 — Monitor structural integrity during the work (CR 14(3)). During demolition, the competent person appointed under subregulation (1) must check the structural integrity of the structure at intervals determined in the method statement, in order to avoid premature collapse. The interval is not fixed by the regulation — it is fixed by the method statement, which is why a generic method statement is dangerous rather than merely inadequate.

Step 4 — Execute under CR 14(4). The contractor performing demolition work must:

• Ensure no floor, roof or other part of the structure is overloaded with debris or material in a manner that would render it unsafe;
• Take all reasonably practicable precautions to avoid collapse when part of the framing of a framed or partly framed building is removed, or when reinforced concrete is cut;
• Take precautions in the form of adequate shoring or other means necessary to prevent accidental collapse of any part of the structure or an adjoining structure;
• Ensure that no person works under overhanging material or a structure which has not been adequately supported, shored or braced, and that any such support is designed and constructed strong enough to support the overhanging material;
• Where the stability of an adjoining building, structure or road is likely to be affected, take steps to ensure its stability and the safety of persons;
• Ascertain the location and nature of electricity, water, gas or other similar services which may be affected, and take the necessary steps to render circumstances safe before commencing work that may affect any such service;
• Ensure every stairwell used and every floor where work is performed is adequately illuminated by natural or artificial means;
• Provide convenient and safe means of access to every part of the structure where work is performed.

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3. Where Demolition Intersects Other Regulations

Demolition is rarely governed by CR 14 alone, and the professional skill is seeing the whole set:

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4. Construction Regulation 11: Structures

Regulation 11 has two distinct halves and candidates frequently conflate them.

CR 11(1) — the contractor's duty. A contractor must ensure that:

• all reasonably practicable steps are taken to prevent the uncontrolled collapse of any new or existing structure or part of it which may become unstable or is in a temporary state of weakness or instability due to the carrying out of construction work;
• no structure or part of a structure is loaded in a manner which would render it unsafe; and
• all drawings pertaining to the design of the relevant structure are kept on site and available on request to an inspector, other contractors, the client and the client's agent or employee.

CR 11(2) — the owner's duty. An owner of a structure must ensure that:

• inspections of that structure are carried out periodically by competent persons in order to render the structure safe for continued use;
• those inspections are carried out at least once every six months for the first two years and thereafter yearly;
• the structure is maintained so that it remains safe for continued use; and
• the records of inspections and maintenance are kept and made available on request to an inspector.

[!IMPORTANT] The CR 11(2) inspection cycle is a favourite examination item. Six-monthly for the first two years, then annually — and the duty falls on the owner of the structure, not on the contractor who built it. It is a post-construction, whole-of-life duty, and it is the reason the consolidated health and safety file handed over under CR 7(1)(e) matters so much: without the as-built and design information, the owner cannot brief a competent person to inspect intelligently.

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5. A Worked Demolition Scenario

A contractor is engaged to demolish a 1970s four-storey reinforced concrete office block in a city centre, sharing a party wall with an occupied retail building.

Before anything happens: the client prepares a baseline risk assessment (CR 5(1)(a)) and health and safety specification (CR 5(1)(b)); the contractor gives at least 7 days' notice on Annexure 2 under CR 4(1)(c); the competent person is appointed in writing under CR 14(1); a detailed structural engineering survey is carried out and a method statement developed by that person under CR 14(2); an asbestos survey is completed and, if positive, removal proceeds under the Asbestos Abatement Regulations before structural demolition; services are located and isolated under CR 14(4)(e), with written confirmation from each utility.

Adjoining structure: because the party wall's stability will be affected, CR 14(4)(d) requires steps to ensure the stability of the adjoining structure and the safety of persons, and CR 11(1)(a) requires all reasonably practicable steps to prevent uncontrolled collapse. In practice this means a temporary works design under CR 12(1) for the propping, a monitoring regime, and agreement with the neighbouring occupier.

During the work: the CR 14(1) appointee checks structural integrity at the intervals fixed in the method statement (CR 14(3)); debris loading on suspended floors is controlled (CR 14(4)(a)(i)); nobody works under unsupported overhanging material (CR 14(4)(b)); floors and stairwells are illuminated (CR 14(4)(f)); safe access is maintained (CR 14(4)(g)); dust is suppressed at source, protecting both the workers and the neighbours under section 9(1) and the environmental regime.

The single most common failure in this scenario is beginning the strip-out before the asbestos survey is complete, which converts a controlled removal into an uncontrolled release affecting the workforce, the occupied neighbour and the public — and turns a programme problem into a notifiable health incident with a waste disposal chain to reconstruct after the fact.