Sector guide · Demolition
Demolition is construction with the certainties removed: the structure's condition is a survey plus a guess, the dust is whatever the building was hiding, and everything underfoot has nails in it. The kit list is the site baseline with every margin widened — bought knowing the job will destroy it on schedule.
The sector
Everything from the construction baseline applies and then hardens: helmets with chinstraps (work at height over voids), Class 2–3 hi-vis among machines working blind, S3 boots where the midsole earns its keep daily — demolition arisings are a carpet of nails and rebar, and it's the sector where puncture protection stops being theoretical. Gloves run at cut level C and up because everything handled has edges, and FFP3 is the respiratory default because pre-1990s buildings shed mixed dusts — concrete silica, plaster, and the legacy nasties — where guessing lower ratings is gambling (the ratings logic).
The asbestos boundary is absolute: licensed asbestos removal is its own regulated world — enclosures, air-fed RPE, decontamination units, disposable suits by procedure — and none of it is bought casually off a workwear list. What a demolition contractor's everyday kit list needs is the boundary discipline: knowing that unexpected suspect materials stop work and change the rules, and that ordinary type 5/6 disposables over site kit are for nuisance dusts, not asbestos. Kit economics finish the picture: demolition consumes clothing at rates that embarrass every other trade — gloves in days, trousers in weeks — so buy on heavy fabric specs, budget rotation deep, and treat retirement-on-damage as routine, not failure.
Kit by task
| Task | The kit that matters | The spec detail |
|---|---|---|
| Soft strip | Cut gloves C+, FFP3, knee protection | Everything has edges; every ceiling has dust |
| Structural demolition | Enhanced baseline, chinstrapped helmets | EN 397 over voids and drop zones |
| Burning & cutting | Welding FR, leather gauntlets | EN ISO 11611 on structural steel |
| Crushing & processing | Quarry-pattern kit — Class 3, hearing, FFP3 | The aggregates rules arrive on site |
| Licensed asbestos work | Its own regulated regime | Separate procedures, kit and training — never improvised |
Management notes
Questions
The construction set with margins widened: EN 397 helmets (chinstrapped for height), Class 2–3 hi-vis, S3 boots where midsole protection works daily, cut-level C+ gloves, FFP3 respiratory protection against mixed dusts, and eye and hearing protection per task. Licensed asbestos work runs its own separate regime.
Because the dust is mixed and partly unknown — concrete silica, plaster, insulation and whatever the decades hid — so the assessment defaults to the highest disposable rating rather than guessing per material. Suspect asbestos-containing materials stop work entirely; FFP3 is for the assessed, non-licensed dusts.
Weeks, honestly — gloves in days, trousers and boots faster than any other trade. Buying heavy-spec garments in deep rotation and retiring on damage without sentiment is the working model; demolition kit is a consumable with a burn rate, and budgets should say so.
Send the roles and headcount — we'll come back with a kit list per role, embroidered and priced.