Demolition Company Fined $125,000 After Toorak Wall Collapse

What happened?

Melbourne Demolition Group Pty Ltd has been convicted and fined $125,000 after a wall collapsed onto a footpath during demolition of a building on Malvern Road in Toorak.

In January 2025, workers noticed the first-floor slab had cracked and was dropping after demolition the day before. The company decided to use an excavator to pull that slab down. As the machine started the pull, the wall below and the remaining material on the first level gave way. Debris fell against scaffolding that was being used as a pedestrian gantry, and onto the footpath in front of a neighbouring property.

The court outcome

The company was sentenced ex-parte in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court after being found guilty of two charges of failing to keep the workplace safe and without risks to health. It was also ordered to pay $6,000 in costs.

A WorkSafe investigation found there was a high likelihood of collapse. Structural support had been removed progressively, the building was already showing signs of distress, the method was an induced collapse, and there was not enough temporary support in place.

WorkSafe found it was reasonably practicable to reduce that risk by demolishing the first level down to the first floor before the slab was removed, and by stopping work when the instability was noticed so a structural engineer could advise on what to do next.

Why an unstable structure is so dangerous

Demolition can fail suddenly. Once load-bearing parts of a building are taken out, a cracked slab or a floor that is already dropping is a warning that the structure may no longer be holding itself up. Pulling on that slab with an excavator can be the last trigger.

When material falls outside the site, the people at risk are not only the crew. Pedestrians using a gantry, and people in neighbouring shops, can be in the path of a collapse they cannot see coming.

Lessons for demolition work

Before demolition starts, employers should:

• Engage a structural engineer with demolition experience to check stability and whether temporary support is needed.
• Have a written plan that sets out both the method and the sequence of demolition.
• Keep temporary supports in place wherever people need access, so the structure stays stable as it comes down.
• Set up exclusion zones so people cannot enter unsupported areas, including around the structure and on adjoining footpaths.
• Stop work as soon as cracking, movement or other signs of distress appear, and get engineering advice before continuing.

The bigger picture

A demolition plan is not a formality. The sequence of removal is the control. Taking out a slab while the wall beneath it still depends on that support leaves no margin once the building starts to move.

This prosecution is a reminder that demolition risks do not stop at the site fence. A collapse onto a public footpath puts workers, passers-by and neighbouring businesses in the same danger.

TL;DR

• Melbourne Demolition Group Pty Ltd was convicted and fined $125,000 after a wall collapsed onto a Toorak footpath.
• Workers had already seen the first-floor slab crack and drop before an excavator was used to pull it down.
• The collapse hit scaffolding being used as a pedestrian gantry and fell in front of a neighbouring property.
• WorkSafe found the risk could have been reduced by following a proper demolition sequence and by stopping work for structural engineering advice.
• The company was found guilty of two charges and ordered to pay $6,000 in costs.

Source: WorkSafe Victoria, “Demolition company fined $125,000 after wall collapse”, 1 October 2026.