Work in progress, September 2026. Perfect Contracting is on site in Grafton, in the Northern Rivers region of NSW, delivering staged demolition, licensed asbestos removal and early works across a live hospital campus as part of a major regional health redevelopment. The crew mobilised in the first week of September and is based in Grafton for the duration of the works.
This page is a running record of the job. It will be updated as the buildings come down. Photos are from the first fortnight on site.
Services delivered
- Structural demolition of whole buildings
- Soft strip, furniture removal and internal demolition
- Licensed asbestos removal, friable and bonded, under our own asbestos supervisors
- Hazardous materials management with independent hygienist air monitoring and clearance
- Scaffolding and demolition work plans reviewed by a structural engineer
- Live environment demolition with exclusion zones, hoardings and spotters
- Early works: pavements, fencing, covered walkways and awnings
- Excavation and civil works for a new car park
- Environmental controls: sediment fencing, catch drains and dust suppression
- Waste segregation, recycling and disposal with a full load register
- Regional mobilisation with a crew living away for the job
The challenge
The hospital stays open for the whole job. Patients, visitors, clinical staff and other trades share the campus with our crews every day, and the buildings coming down sit between roads, car parks, a helipad and buildings that stay in use.
Almost every structure on the demolition list carries asbestos containing materials, from roofing and eaves linings to vinyl floor tiles, wall sheeting and pipe lagging, and covered walkways with asbestos ceilings tie the buildings together. Extra material has been found as the strip out opens things up, which is normal on a campus of this age, and each find goes back to the hygienist before work continues.
Grafton is a long way from our Sydney and Brisbane yards. Plant, consumables, scaffold, bins and tipping all had to be organised around a regional supply chain, and noisy work is kept to daytime hours agreed with the hospital.
Perfect Contracting's role
Our package covers the demolition of more than a dozen buildings and structures, close to 6,000 square metres of floor area in total: a multi-storey former accommodation and administration block, a former nurses' home, clinic, pathology and therapy buildings, a simulation and conference centre, storage sheds, two houses adjoining the campus, covered walkways, awnings and a bike shed, along with pavements, fencing, a traffic island and an inground swimming pool.
Every building is stripped of hazardous materials first, under our own licensed asbestos supervisors, with an independent hygienist monitoring the air and issuing the clearance certificate before demolition plant is allowed near the structure. The sequence is staged so the hospital keeps operating around us, and the package finishes with excavation and civil works, including footings and cut to fill for a new car park.
Demolition methodology
Every building follows the same order. Furniture and loose fittings come out first and are sorted for reuse, recycling or disposal. Our hazmat crew then removes the asbestos containing materials under containment with daily dockets, and the hygienist clears the building. Roofing and internal linings are stripped by hand from mobile scaffolds and elevated work platforms, with spotters posted and the drop zone fenced and sheeted. Only then does the excavator start on the structure, working to a demolition work plan reviewed by a structural engineer and the principal contractor.
Truck movements run at walking pace through the campus with a spotter on the radio at every turn, and material leaves through a controlled loading zone. Perfect Contracting installs scaffold and temporary works to the engineer's design; we do not design them.
Environmental controls
- Sediment fencing and catch drains around excavation areas
- Dust suppression on demolition and loadout
- Sheeted hoardings on every exclusion zone and drop zone
- Waste separated at source: asbestos, mixed demolition waste, metal for recycling, brick and concrete
- Tip dockets kept daily and compiled into a load register for the client
- Noisy works limited to the daytime hours agreed with the hospital
Safety in a live hospital
Working inside an operating hospital means the controls are set up before the tools come out. Hard barrier exclusion zones with plastic sheeting and signage go around every work face and drop zone. Two spotters cover blind corners whenever material is moving. A two-person rule applies to anything over 15 kilograms or two metres long. Live services stay live until an electrician has isolated them and issued a disconnection certificate.
Every worker signs onto the method of work through the principal contractor's site safety system before starting, and any change on site stops the job until the supervisor has reset the plan. That is slower than a greenfield demolition and it is meant to be.
Where the job is at
As at 19 September 2026. Asbestos removal in the first building is complete and cleared by the hygienist. Roof tiles and internal linings are being stripped by hand, the scaffold is up, and excavator demolition of that building starts the week of 21 September. The hazmat crew has moved onto the next structure. On the multi-storey block, furniture removal and internal strip out are running floor by floor with material loaded out through a controlled loading zone. Local tipping and recycling accounts are set up and running.
Supporting regional NSW
Grafton and the Clarence Valley sit at the southern end of the Northern Rivers, north of Coffs Harbour and south of Lismore. Regional health projects need a full building demolition and asbestos contractor that can mobilise a licensed crew, plant and supervision to a country town and keep them there for the length of the job. Perfect Contracting runs its own fleet, its own licensed asbestos supervisors and its own safety team, which is what makes a job this far from the city workable.
Progress so far
The first building is cleared and ready to come down, the multi-storey block is being emptied floor by floor, and the campus has kept operating throughout. We will add progress photos and update this page as each stage completes.
See more Perfect Contracting projects or contact our estimating team.
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.