Posted By Joel Benham The Housing Department of the Council I work for often refurbishes Council properties. Part of the work can involve taking out old window frames and doorways to communal blocks. Would this work be classified as "demolition" and therefore should it be notified under CDM? I appreciate that it may be notifiable for other reasons e.g. length of job, numbers working on site, etc. But if it were a two week job with, say, two workers on site, should it still be notified under CDM because it is demolition? I'd be most grateful for people's views.

Posted By Ralph Baqar Joel, look up the thread of 28th February 2005 by Steve Mellor (currently on page 16). In summary Joel; You only need to notify when the criteria set out in reg. 7 is met. So not all demolition is notifiable. You can confirm this with the local HSE office (make sure you ask for the construction section and ask to speak to the local inspector – not one of the clerks). Regards. Ralph Baqar.

Posted By Ralph Baqar Totally agree with Danny, many people get confused and presume that all demolition is notifiable (which of course it is not). Well done Danny for explaining the issue. NB. This question gets asked many times on the forum. Regards R.

Posted By Ralph Baqar I’d agree that many of the same questions surrounding CDM, CHSW and RIDDOR get asked over and over again. Maybe we should have a bank of answers that people could access?

Posted By steven bentham Generally I would agree with previous answers. Although the notification is surely the least painful side of what you need to comply with. There are risks at the soft strip or salvage stages prior to demolition. However, I would view that soft strip of items is part of the demolition process and this might be the time when electrics are live, absestos has not been removed etc And the recovery of salvage or historic/conservation type items might occur - sometimes less safely then the demolition! In addition structural work may take place to support adjacent structures - again is this part of the demolition works? Again you might argue on the defination of demolition does not cover any of this but an inspector might argue differently and the inspector might use other legislation for enforcement of these issues.

Posted By Lynchy Everyone 2 points: 1. I thought it was bad idea to put the notification requirements in the CDM regs in the first place since they are separate requirements - and this is what leads to the confusion of thinking that if one applies then so must the other!! ( (I recall that pre CDM notification was required anyway for projects of 6 weeks or over - is that correct or is my old brain becoming befuddled)?? 2. Our local HSE office told me ages ago that they classed demolition as a "significant part of the structure being removed" - and that's basically what we work on! Trouble is this could mean signifcant in the sense of a lot of the structure or significant in the sense of, say , a structural part of the building - makes you think doesn't it??? Lynchy

Posted By Joel Benham Thank you to all of you who responded to my thread. Having reread the regulations I can see where people are coming from with their views. Most helpful!