Project in progress. Perfect Contracting started on site on 3 August 2026 and the demolition package is running to a programme of about 12 weeks.
Perfect Contracting is the demolition and hazmat contractor for Infinity Constructions on a co-living development at Eveleigh Street, Redfern. The site is a block of older buildings that back onto each other between Eveleigh Street, Woodburn Street and Cleveland Street. Our package covers the strip out, the removal of asbestos and lead, the staged structural demolition of every building on the block, salvage of the face bricks the client wants to reuse, and loadout to a cleared site ready for the next stage.
It is the kind of job Perfect Contracting exists for. Tight inner city block, live traffic on Cleveland Street, occupied neighbours on two sides, overhead power on the street frontage, and a set of buildings that turned out to be tied into each other in ways the drawings did not show.
Services delivered
- Site establishment, hoarding, scaffold and dust screens on all street frontages
- Full internal strip out of every building, with recyclable steel, timber and masonry separated at source
- Licensed asbestos removal, with hygienist clearance before demolition started on each building
- Lead paint and lead dust removal in the older buildings, with the work area sealed and cleared before the crews moved on
- Service protection and isolation on the street frontage, working with the client and the network on the power supply
- Hand demolition of party walls and separations off the scaffold, then machine demolition behind it
- Staged structural demolition with 24, 38 and 48 tonne excavators fitted with shears, pulveriser, hammer and grab
- Salvage of face bricks for reuse by the client, sorted and palletised on site
- Loadout of masonry, steel and general waste by hook truck and ten wheeler through a narrow street frontage
The challenge
On paper it was a row of old commercial buildings. On the ground it was a single structure made of several buildings built into each other over decades. Timber floors sat on steel beams that ran through into the next building. Columns were wedged rather than fixed. Some of the timber had termite and rot damage. Take one building down the ordinary way and you risk moving the one beside it.
The two taller buildings on Woodburn Street were the hardest part. The top section is one continuous steel frame across both, with the members tied together at every level. There was no way to drop it in one go without an uncontrolled collapse, so it had to be opened up by hand first.
Then there is the location. Cleveland Street is a main road with a bike lane and the site sits right on it. The access into the block from Eveleigh Street is a bit over three metres wide, enough for a small hook truck and nothing bigger. Overhead power runs along the frontage. Apartments and a working business sit on the boundaries.
Perfect Contracting's role
Perfect Contracting holds the demolition licence and the site supervision for the whole package. Our supervisor and leading hands are on site every shift. Our own crews do the strip out, the hazmat removal and the machine work. Our own plant and attachments do the demolition, and our own trucks do the loadout.
When the building survey showed the structure was more complex than the drawings, we did not push on. We stopped, walked the site with the client, brought a structural engineer in to look at the connections, and rewrote the demolition methodology for the affected buildings. The client approved the revised sequence before the machines went back on those buildings.
How the demolition is being staged
The site is split into stages, one per building or pair of buildings, and each stage runs the same way.
Scaffold goes up on the boundary and the street frontage, with dust screens and a locked site. Hazmat crews clear the building and the hygienist signs it off. The crew then hand demolishes the party wall and the separations off the scaffold, so the building being removed is cut free from its neighbour before any machine touches it. Only then does the excavator come in, working from the street side inward, bay by bay, with the scaffold stripped back as the building comes down.
On the two taller buildings the steel is exposed and unbolted or cut from an elevating work platform first, so the frame comes apart in a known order rather than falling as one piece.
The 38 tonne machine with the shear does the heavy structural work. The 24 tonne machine with the hammer and pulveriser follows behind it, breaking down the masonry and concrete for loadout. A posi track with bucket and forks moves pallets and material inside the block. A 48 tonne machine is coming in for the largest of the buildings.
Environmental controls
Water is on every machine while it is cutting or breaking, with a second hose from the ground where the dust is heaviest. The hazmat work areas are sealed and under negative air with a decontamination unit on site, and nothing leaves them without a clearance. Face bricks are cleaned, sorted and palletised on site for the client to reuse in the new build, which keeps them out of the waste stream. Steel goes out separately for recycling.
Safety in a live precinct
Every shift starts with the site locked and the hoarding checked. An electrical spotter is on the ground whenever plant or scaffold works near the overhead lines on the frontage. Truck movements onto Cleveland Street are managed with traffic control and timed outside the peaks. Deliveries of the larger machines happen before dawn. The crews doing the lead work are on a blood lead monitoring programme.
Structural demolition contractors for Sydney developers
Inner city demolition for a developer or builder is rarely about how fast a machine can knock a wall down. It is about the sequence, the hazmat clearances, the neighbours, the traffic and the paperwork, and about having a contractor who owns all of it under one licence. Perfect Contracting delivers staged structural demolition, asbestos and hazmat removal and site clearance for builders and developers across Sydney, and holds the licence, the plan and the supervision on every job. See our commercial demolition contractors Sydney page, our asbestos and hazmat removal page and our demolition services page for the full scope, or contact us about a project.
Where the job is at
As at 25 September 2026: the strip out and hazmat removal are complete on the first buildings, those buildings are down, and the brick salvage is under way. The scaffold is going up on the next stage and the 48 tonne machine is booked for the largest building on the block. We will update this page when the site is cleared and handed over.
Perfect Contracting acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Traditional Custodians of the country on which we live and work. We pay our respects to the Traditional Custodians and Elders past, present and future, and honour their connection to the land and ongoing contribution to society.