Controlled demolition, structural strip outs and site clearance across west Cornwall. The building comes down, the ground is cleared, and the same contractor carries straight on into the groundworks, so the programme never waits on a handover between trades.
Demolition is the controlled, planned taking down of a building or part of a building, and demolition contractors are the people who plan that sequence, isolate the services, protect what stays and remove the material safely.
A structural strip out is the same discipline applied inside a building that is staying up. Walls, floors, staircases, finishes and redundant services are taken out, and anything carrying load is propped or replaced with a steel before it is removed, so the shell is left sound.
Developers, architects and main contractors buy it to clear a site before a new build. Homeowners buy it to take out an extension, an outbuilding or an old concrete base.
Outbuildings, garages, extensions, farm and agricultural buildings, concrete bases and redundant structures, taken down top down in a planned order with the services isolated first. Partial demolition is worked out against the loads before anything is cut.
Buildings taken back to frame or shell. Internal walls, floors, ceilings, staircases and redundant services removed, with needle and prop work, acrow support and structural steel installed wherever a load path changes.
Vegetation, slabs, old foundations, redundant drainage and buried obstructions grubbed out, and the ground brought to a level the groundworks can be set out from. Site clearance is priced inside the same job.
Material segregated as it comes out, with concrete, stone and hardcore set aside for crushing and reuse in the works that follow.
Storm damage, fallen trees through walls and roofs, and damaged structures propped and made safe before anyone goes back inside.
A full main dealership taken down in Exeter: the glazed showroom, the mezzanine and the steel frame, dismantled by machine with a sorting grab and hydraulic shear, and hot cut at height, including night working. A job Matt ran on site from the intact building to a cleared apron.
The next trade starts on the ground it was promised.The site is handed over cleared and levelled by the contractor who works on it next.
Nothing is left in the ground to find later.Old foundations, slabs and redundant drainage are grubbed out at clearance stage rather than discovered halfway through an excavation.
The building next door stays out of it.Adjoining and terraced structures are propped and protected before anything is removed.
Less material leaves the site.Crushed and reused hardcore cuts what has to be loaded out, which on a tight Cornish access matters.
A damaged building can be made safe outside normal hours.Storm work does not wait for Monday, which is why Sunday is kept for emergency call outs.
Demolition is one of the few operations on a construction site where the plan is a legal document. Under regulation 20 of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, demolition or dismantling must be planned to prevent danger, and those arrangements must be recorded in writing before the work begins. BS 6187, the code of practice for full and partial demolition, sets out how that planning is done. Every job here starts with that written sequence.
Cornwall Civils & Construction holds £5m public liability, including groundworks and demolition up to 15 metres. A large share of public liability policies in this trade exclude demolition outright, so it is worth checking on any contractor you consider.
Matt Richards owns and runs Cornwall Civils & Construction from Newlyn. He started at 17 and has 23 years behind him: mason by trade, then working foreman, then site manager across groundworks and demolition, before founding the company, now going into its third year.
A demolition job is not finished when the building is down. It is finished when the ground underneath it is in a state the next trade can actually start on.Matt Richards, director
23 years in construction, mason by trade
Site manager across groundworks and demolition
£5m public liability, including groundworks and demolition up to 15 metres
Demolition planned and recorded in writing, per CDM 2015
We work from Newlyn across west Cornwall. Structural work sits in St Ives, where we built the 45 metre reinforced concrete retaining wall, in Newlyn, where the business is based, and as far east as Falmouth. Penzance, Hayle, Marazion, St Just, Camborne, Redruth and Helston sit inside the normal working area.
Recent work includes the clearance that opened up the St Ives retaining wall site, where the excavated material stayed on site and was worked back in behind the wall, and a cliffside restoration reached down an access tight enough that the whole job ran on a one ton dumper.
We do not publish rates, because no two structures come down the same way. The site visit and the written quote are free, and the quote sets out:
Our Google reviews are public, and worth more than anything we could write here.
Based on 5 Google reviews
Great company to work with. Professional, reliable and well organised from start to finish. Communication is always clear, sites are well run & the team are a pleasure to deal with. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them and look forward to working together again!
Read more on GoogleCornwall Civils have been working on a complex external works package for our project in St Ives. Their works have included an extensive concrete retaining wall, in-situ concrete stairs and an in-ground modular drainage system.
Read more on GoogleCornwall Civils handled a tricky concrete shuttering, steel work, and pour for us on an emergency job. They stepped in at very short notice and worked through nights and weekends to get it done. The quality of their work was excellent, and their commitment was outstanding.
Read more on GoogleI recently had the pleasure of working with Matry at Cornwall Civils and Construction, and I couldn’t be more impressed with the service provided.
Read more on GoogleOne further five-star rating was left on Google without a written review.
Tell us what is coming down, what replaces it, and when the next trade needs the site. We will look at it, then put the sequence and the price in writing.
Call Matt Richards on 07958 102538 · Get a free quote online
14 The Strand, Newlyn, Penzance, TR18 5HN
Phone: 07958 102538
Email: info@cornwallcivilsandconstruction.co.uk
Hours: Mon to Fri 07:00 to 17:00 · Sat 08:00 to 12:00
Sunday: emergency call out only
Last updated: 22 September 2026
