Bankstown Demolition: Commercial Strip-Out, House Demolition & Excavation
Get It Away delivers commercial strip-out, house demolition, and excavation across Bankstown’s mixed residential and commercial streets, with fixed-price quotes and Canterbury-Bankstown Council experience.
Bankstown isn’t settling into its current form. The Metro City and Southwest line is bringing a new station to the existing rail corridor. A Western Sydney University campus is under construction. A $1.3 billion hospital is planned for or near the CBD. Canterbury-Bankstown Council has introduced a B3 Commercial Core zone to protect employment floor space around Chapel Road and Rickard Road, and development applications across the suburb are at some of the highest volumes in the LGA.
Bankstown Is Being Rebuilt, and Our Crews Are Already There
That activity is what fills our schedule in Bankstown: commercial strip-outs ahead of tenancy changes and redevelopments, house demolitions on the residential streets around the CBD fringe, excavation for mixed-use projects on blocks that were previously single-storey retail or housing. The work is varied, and the sites are tight.
Bankstown’s Mixed Housing and Commercial Stock: What the Age of a Building Tells You
Bankstown’s housing stock is concentrated in the 1950s to 1980s range across the residential streets south and west of the CBD, a mix of post-war brick, fibro, and the occasional weatherboard cottage on blocks of 400 to 600 square metres. Commercial properties along North Terrace, Chapel Road, Stacey Street, and the Hume Highway frontage are older in some sections, with shop-top residential above ground-floor retail, and light industrial uses tucked behind the main arterials.
Almost anything built before 1987 carries asbestos somewhere, and in Bankstown that covers a substantial part of both the residential and older commercial stock.
1950s to 1960s
Post-war brick and fibro residential in the streets south of the CBD. Asbestos common in eave linings, internal sheeting, laundries, and garage additions. Commercial buildings from this era along North Terrace and Chapel Road should be treated as containing asbestos until proven otherwise.
1960s to 1970s
Brick veneer and mixed construction residential, with commercial shop-top developments becoming more common along the CBD arterials. Asbestos use at its peak across both residential and commercial fitouts, particularly in ceiling tiles, floor tiles, and wet area linings.
1970s to 1980s
Brick construction continues, asbestos tapering off toward 1987 but still present. Light industrial buildings from this period on the streets west of the CBD may carry asbestos cement cladding and roofing alongside legacy soil contamination from older manufacturing uses.
Core Demolition & Clearance Solutions for Bankstown
Retail & Mixed-Use Strip-Outs
Commercial strip-out for tenancy changes, fit-out renewals, and building redevelopment across Bankstown’s retail and commercial streets. North Terrace, Chapel Road, and the streets around Bankstown Central generate consistent strip-out work, from single-tenancy retail clearances to full floor plate strip-outs in older mixed-use buildings.
In the B3 Commercial Core zone and the mixed-use streets around it, multi-tenant buildings are common, which means shared services, active retail on one side of a wall and a stripped shell on the other. We isolate power, gas, and water feeds to the works area before any structural or fitout removal begins, so the café or pharmacy next door stays live throughout. We schedule around trading hours and loading dock access rather than assuming an empty site.
Due to the ongoing renewal of the CBD fringe, clearing active retail and mixed-use spaces forms the bulk of our ongoing operations in this postcode.
House Demolition and Knockdown Rebuild
Full house demolition across Bankstown’s established residential streets, including asbestos inspection and licensed removal, utility disconnection coordination with Ausgrid, Jemena Gas, and Sydney Water, structural demolition including footings, and a level site ready for handover. The mix of post-war brick and fibro on medium blocks makes this straightforward to scope, though asbestos in older additions needs to be confirmed before any structural work begins.
Excavation and Site Preparation
Bulk excavation for residential and mixed-use redevelopment, including building platform preparation, footing excavation, and service trenching. Bankstown’s clay-dominant ground with common fill means soil behaviour needs to be assessed rather than assumed, particularly on older commercial or light industrial sites where uncontrolled fill is likely.
Asbestos Removal
Licensed inspection, removal, EPA-compliant disposal, and hygienist clearance certification across both the residential and commercial stock. Given Bankstown’s building age profile, asbestos assessment is the first step on most jobs here regardless of whether the project is a house, shop, or light industrial shed.
Light Industrial Demolition and Interior Demolition
Demolition of older light industrial buildings on the streets behind Bankstown’s commercial frontages, and interior strip-out of residential and commercial properties ahead of renovation. Scope includes asbestos management, plant removal coordination, and utility disconnections.
Canterbury-Bankstown Council Approvals for Demolition in Bankstown
Bankstown merged with Canterbury in 2016 to form Canterbury-Bankstown Council, the largest council in NSW by population. The planning framework is now the Canterbury-Bankstown Local Environmental Plan 2023, replacing both the former Bankstown LEP 2015 and Canterbury LEP 2012. The new LEP introduced a B3 Commercial Core zone around the Bankstown railway station and CBD, bounded by Chapel Road, Rickard Road, The Mall and Fetherstone Street, specifically to protect employment floor space ahead of the Metro arrival and hospital investment. That rezoning is also creating a wave of development activity, and with it, demolition and strip-out work ahead of redevelopment.
Bankstown Airport sits 3km west of the CBD, and its airspace constraints impose a 108 metre RL height ceiling on development across much of the suburb. That ceiling means Bankstown’s redevelopment pipeline is dominated by low-to-mid rise demolition footprints: four-storey shop-top buildings, single and double-storey brick and fibro residential, and older light industrial sheds sitting directly beneath strict airspace corridors. These are sites where ground-level precision, live boundary clearances, and careful utility management matter more than equipment height. Our team is set up for exactly this type of work.
Residential demolition – CDC vs DA
Standard residential demolition on non-heritage properties can generally proceed via Complying Development Certificate through a private certifier. Most of Bankstown’s post-war residential streets have no heritage overlay, making CDC the faster and more common pathway. DA is required where a property sits within a heritage-affected area or where the demolition is part of a larger mixed-use or commercial development application.
Commercial demolition and strip-out
Commercial strip-out typically proceeds under a separate approval or as part of the broader DA for the tenancy change. Full commercial demolition ahead of redevelopment requires development consent, with asbestos assessment and utility disconnections managed ahead of works.
Three Things Canterbury-Bankstown Council Always Requires
An asbestos assessment report for any building predating 1987.
SafeWork NSW notification at least 5 business days before any demolition involving asbestos above 10m².
Utility disconnection certificates from Ausgrid, Jemena Gas, and Sydney Water before structural works begin.
We manage all three.
Clay Soil, CBD Congestion and Managing Retail Neighbours in Bankstown
SOIL AND GROUND
Bankstown’s ground profile is characterised by reactive residual clay matrices over shale, with anthropogenic (man-made) deposits common across older commercial and light industrial blocks where fill has been placed without compaction records. Contamination is possible on the older light industrial pockets west of the CBD and on any commercial site with a documented history of chemical or fuel storage. We treat soil assessment as standard on any commercial site with an unclear history rather than assuming a clean pad.
ACCESS
The Hume Highway runs along the northern edge of the suburb and carries the heaviest truck traffic. Chapel Road is the main north-south CBD arterial, North Terrace provides east-west access through the core, and Stacey Street links the suburb to the M5 motorway interchange to the south. Bankstown Central sits at the centre of the retail precinct and draws significant traffic, particularly on weekends, which competes directly with parking and loading access for commercial strip-out jobs on nearby streets. We plan skip placement and vehicle access around Westfield trading hours on projects within a few blocks of the centre.
NEIGHBOURS
Bankstown’s mix of retail tenants, residential neighbours, and commercial businesses means neighbour risk sits higher than a purely residential suburb. Retail tenants on neighbouring properties are affected by noise, parking access, and skip bin placement, and they’re quicker to raise concerns than a homeowner on a quiet street. Early communication with adjoining tenants and a clear site management plan avoids most issues before they start.
Project Insight
Commercial Strip-Out and Full Demolition on a Bankstown CBD Fringe Block
A 1960s shop-top building on a side street off Chapel Road was being cleared for a mixed-use redevelopment. The ground floor had operated as a takeaway for decades, with kitchen extract systems, a grease trap, and commercial fit-out throughout. The two residential apartments above had been tenanted into the 2010s and had accumulated multiple layers of renovation.
Pre-demolition inspection confirmed asbestos in the ceiling tiles of the commercial ground floor, the eave linings of the upper level, and in vinyl floor tiles in one of the two apartments. The grease trap required a licensed liquid waste contractor to clear and certify before any internal demolition work began.
We managed asbestos removal across all three locations under a single licensed scope, with hygienist clearance issued before structural work started. Utility disconnections were coordinated with Ausgrid, Jemena Gas, and Sydney Water. The commercial kitchen extract was decommissioned and the ground-floor slab was retained as agreed with the structural engineer for the new development. The site was handed over within the agreed program, with clearance certificates, disconnection records, and a compaction report provided to the developer.
Scope: Asbestos removal + commercial strip-out + full demolition to retained slab | Location: Bankstown CBD fringe, Canterbury-Bankstown Council
Project Details
1960s shop-top building, Chapel Road fringe
Ground floor: takeaway + grease trap + kitchen extract
Asbestos in ceiling tiles, eave linings, vinyl floor tiles
Licensed liquid waste contractor for grease trap
Ground-floor slab retained per engineer’s spec
Handed over with full clearance documentation
Budgeting Your Bankstown Project
Get an Instant Cost Estimate
Every Bankstown project is different. Costs vary based on building type, asbestos presence, whether the job is a strip-out, full demolition, or excavation, and how much utility coordination is required. Use our free demolition cost calculator to get a preliminary budget range before requesting a formal quote.
The calculator covers house demolitions, commercial strip-outs, excavation, and asbestos removal. It takes less than two minutes to complete.
The calculator provides a preliminary budget range only and is not a formal quote. A site inspection is required before fixed pricing is confirmed.
Serving Bankstown from Our Smithfield Base
Get It Away Demolition and Excavations
84 Victoria Street, Smithfield NSW 2164
Smithfield Office: 1300 313 371
Email: info@getitaway.com.au
ABN: 69 145 254 119
SafeWork NSW: DE2 AD214489
As part of our broader Western Sydney Demolition Services, our Smithfield office directly manages projects across Wetherill Park, Cabramatta, Liverpool, Prestons, Revesby, and Fairfield.
Start Your Bankstown Demolition or Strip-Out Today
From commercial strip-out and house demolition to excavation and asbestos removal, Get It Away delivers Bankstown projects from our Smithfield office with the licences, local council knowledge, and fixed pricing this market demands.
Get It Away Demolition and Excavations | ABN: 69 145 254 119 | SafeWork NSW Demolition Licence: DE2 AD214489 | 84 Victoria Street, Smithfield NSW 2164 | info@getitaway.com.au