Demolition Camperdown, NSW: House Demolition and Strip-Outs in Sydney's Inner West

Which approval a Camperdown demolition needs: exempt, CDC or DA

Not every demolition needs a full application, and it is a mistake to assume it does. Inner West Council assesses the work, and which of three routes applies depends on the property and scope.

Minor works can be exempt development, needing no application at all, provided the job meets every condition in the State planning rules. That is limited, and rare for a whole house. Many straightforward house demolitions instead run as a complying development certificate, or CDC: a faster code-based approval that Inner West Council or an accredited private certifier issues when the work satisfies the State demolition code.

Anything that does not qualify needs a development application, or DA, assessed by Inner West Council against the Inner West Local Environmental Plan 2022 and the Development Control Plan for your address. A full house demolition, or one affected by heritage or other controls, usually takes this route. Settle the pathway before you lock in a scope: it shapes your timeline more than anything on site.

After consent: certifier, Construction Certificate and getting to site

Approval is the start of the paperwork, not the end of it. Before a machine touches the building, you appoint a Principal Certifier: the accredited body or council officer who oversees the work against your consent and signs off the key stages. Where a new home follows, a Construction Certificate is needed before that building work begins, and Council is notified before demolition starts, usually with at least two days’ notice. The services into the building come off first, and any use of the public footpath or road is accounted for. In practice that means:

• Electricity, gas, water, NBN and telephone disconnected by the relevant providers
• A road or footpath occupancy permit where a skip, crane or machine sits on public land
• A tree permit where a protected tree stands close to the work

We line all of it up in the right order rather than leaving it to you. On a knockdown rebuild the demolition consent can be coordinated with the approval for your new home, so the project keeps moving.