Status: in progress. Client: RJA, Retail Joinery Australasia. Location: 141-147 King Street, Sydney CBD NSW 2000. Scope: retail strip out, internal and structural demolition, and detailed excavation to form new lift and stair openings.
RJA engaged Perfect Strip Out and Demolition to clear and open up an existing King Street building so a new retail fitout can be built inside it. That means taking the tenancy back to structure, removing internal walls that are no longer needed, and then digging out new lift shaft and stairwell pits inside a building that is still standing and still surrounded by one of the busiest shopping streets in the country.
What the job involves
- Soft strip and internal demolition of the existing tenancy back to structure
- Removal of basement timber flooring
- Structural brick wall removal, including jackhammering inside the lift shaft area
- Detailed excavation of the lift shaft and stairwell pits, roughly a 5 metre by 6 metre footprint, taken down to sandstone
- Night shift load-out of rubble, soil, brick and sandstone under permit
- Segregation and recycling of clean brick, metal, rubble and mixed waste
- Working alongside temporary propping and retained structural elements
Why this one is not a straightforward strip out
The building stays up. Everything comes out through the existing structure, so there is no open front and no room for a big machine. We are running compact plant inside the tenancy, and we sized it around access rather than speed. Part way through the job we swapped a 1.7 tonne excavator for a 2.5 tonne machine purely to get better reach into the pit, and we run a dumper alongside it to shift material out to the load-out point.
There is an archaeologist on site. This is an old part of the CBD and the excavation is monitored. Our crew works under the archaeologist’s direction where required, and those hours are recorded on a site diary and signed off. It slows the dig down and it is not optional, so we programme for it rather than fight it.
Temporary works are somebody else’s to sign. The pit is propped. When we wanted to move tilt props to get better access for the excavation, we stopped and asked for written approval from the temporary works supplier before touching them. Props do not get moved because they are in the way. They get moved when the engineer says so, in writing.
Everything happens at night. King Street cannot take a queue of trucks during trading hours, so load-out runs on night shift with permits and traffic control booked in advance. That takes coordination between the site crew, the yard, the truck drivers and the traffic controllers, and if any one of those is not booked the whole night is wasted.
We scan before we break. RJA supplied a slab scan report for the site, which we reviewed before breaking out. On a live CBD building with services running through it, that is the difference between a clean cut and a very expensive afternoon. The gas meter was also protected before the wall demolition started.
Waste, and why we bother sorting it
Demolition waste is only cheap if it leaves site in the right streams. On this job we are separating clean brick, metal, rubble, soil and mixed waste at source rather than throwing it all in together. The salvageable brick is stacked and kept out of the general waste stream, metal goes for recycling, and the clean fill and rock are handled separately from the mixed material.
It takes the crew longer on site. It costs the client materially less at the weighbridge, and it keeps a lot of perfectly good material out of landfill. Every load is recorded, so the classification is defensible if anybody asks later.
Where the job is at
As at late August 2026 the internal demolition is done and the excavation is well advanced. The crew has reached sandstone at the base of the pit and is clearing the remaining rubble, soil and rock. Daily site diaries and photo diaries are submitted for every shift, so the client has a full record of what happened and when.
If you have something similar
Retail and commercial jobs like this one sit right in the middle of what we do. If you are opening up an existing building for a fitout and you need it stripped, cut, propped and dug out without shutting the street down, we can help.
Have a look at our strip out and detailed demolition services, or our commercial strip out in Sydney and office and shop defit and make good pages. If it is easier, just get in touch and tell us what you are dealing with.
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Perfect Stripout & Demolition 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.