Geelong's big old blocks are being split

Drive through Belmont, Highton, Grovedale, Newcomb, Bell Park or Norlane and you will see the pattern: a post-war weatherboard or brick home on a wide, deep block, with a townhouse pair or a battle-axe home going up two doors down. A lot of that generously laid-out land is now being split into two or more lots, and almost every one of those projects starts with a demolition. A demolition for a subdivision is not quite the same job as clearing a block for one new home. Here is what changes.

Do not demolish before the planning picture is clear

The biggest mistake we see is demolishing first and planning second. Subdividing land, or building more than one dwelling on a lot, needs a planning permit from the City of Greater Geelong, and that process can take months and can change the design — setbacks, the number of dwellings, which trees stay, where the driveway goes. If the house is already gone, you are holding an empty block that earns nothing while the application runs, and you have lost the option of renting or living in the old home in the meantime.

The demolition needs its own approvals as well — a building permit from a registered building surveyor, usually with the council's Report and Consent, plus a planning permit if the property sits in a heritage overlay, as parts of Newtown, Geelong West and central Geelong do. Book the demolition once the development is going ahead and you know roughly when the builder wants the site. Our Geelong demolition permit guide covers the approvals in more detail.

Decide what stays before anyone quotes

On a subdivision block, some of what is there now may be worth keeping:

The crossover. The existing driveway crossing often becomes the access for the front lot or the shared driveway for a battle-axe. If it is staying, it needs protecting during the demolition rather than being broken up with the slab.
Trees. A mature tree on the boundary can be protected by the planning permit conditions, and it can shape the whole layout. Confirm which trees are going before the demolition is scoped, because removing a protected tree is a separate problem you do not want.
Fences and retaining walls. Boundary fences are shared with the neighbours, and on sloping Highton and Belmont blocks a retaining wall might be holding up next door's yard. Both are usually left alone unless the development plan says otherwise.
Sheds, garages and pools. Everything else normally goes. An old pool needs to be fully removed and the hole properly compacted, because a new dwelling or driveway may sit over that ground later.

Services: where the old connections are matters more than usual

Every demolition needs power, gas, water, sewer and telecommunications abolished before work starts. On a subdivision, where those connections sit also matters for what comes next: the existing sewer branch and water tapping serve one house, and the new lots each need their own. Ask Barwon Water for the property's sewer and water plans early, because an old sewer line running through what will become the rear lot can turn into an easement that limits where you can build. Stormwater is similar: the council sets the legal point of discharge for the new lots, and the old house's drains tell you little about where that will be. Having the plans before the demolition means old pits, pipes and tapping points are located and removed or protected deliberately, rather than dug up by accident during the build.

Scope the demolition to the development, not just to the house

A straight knockdown-rebuild leaves a clean, level block for one slab. A subdivision site usually needs a bit more thought:

Everything out of the ground. Footings, the slab, old paths, the shed base and any buried rubble all need to come out, because the new lots will have slabs, driveways and services running where the backyard used to be.
Nothing buried on site. It is tempting to backfill a pool or a stump hole with broken concrete. On a site that will be re-surveyed, classified and built on, that fill is a liability; it should be clean, compacted fill.
A level, readable site. Your surveyor will re-peg the lots and your engineer will want a soil test after the demolition, and a tidy, level block makes both quicker and more accurate.
Asbestos handled first, properly. Most of the homes being subdivided in Geelong are pre-1990, so asbestos is the rule rather than the exception. It is identified, removed under the licensed process and disposed of at a licensed facility before the structure comes down, as on any demolition — and a development site tends to be inspected and documented more than most.

Keeping the front house: backyard subdivisions

A common Geelong version keeps the existing home on the front lot and builds behind it. That is a partial clearing job: the garage, shed, pool, pergola and paving come out, the back of the house might be trimmed to meet a new setback, and the existing home is protected throughout. Access is the challenge — machines and bins have to get down a side path or the new driveway handle without damaging the house, the fences or the neighbour's property. Our garage, shed and pool removal and partial demolition services cover this work; say up front that the house is staying so the method is planned around it.

Timing it with the surveyor, the builder and the title

The usual order runs: planning permit, then demolition, then civil works such as the new driveway, services and drainage, then construction, with the new titles issued once the permit conditions are met. The demolition needs to land when the civil contractor or builder is ready to follow — not months ahead with a bare block sitting idle, and not so late that it holds up a build program. Tell us who is coming next and when, and the demolition is scheduled to hand straight over to them.

Getting a quote for a subdivision site

Useful things to send with the enquiry are the address, the age and construction of the house, the proposed site layout or endorsed plans if you have them, a note of what is staying — crossover, trees, fences — and any existing asbestos report. From there we arrange a site assessment and come back with an itemised quote covering the demolition, asbestos, disposal and the finished state of the block, so the figure sits cleanly in your development budget and the site is ready for whoever comes next.

Knocking Down to Subdivide in Geelong: Demolition for Dual-Occ and Battle-Axe Blocks