What comes down stays down
Old buildings stand in a city for decades and people are attached to them. Footage of the last days of one cannot be bought back later, and it often turns out to be the most talked-about material the new project has.
Demolition and refurbishment
Demolition
Time-lapse
Demolition is the one kind of job that can never be re-shot. Once a building is down, the chance to record it is gone for good, whatever the budget.
We mount high-resolution still-frame cameras on site and record from the intact building, through the demolition, to the cleared ground — and where a new build follows, the same camera stays in the same position and carries the whole story.
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One chance only
There is no second take. The system has to be right from the first day.
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Demolition into construction
Same camera, same position, same frame — the old building and the new one in one continuous film.
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A daily record you can cite
Every day is archived separately, ready to be pulled up when the sequence is questioned.
Why
Why a demolition is worth recording
Owners often treat demolition as site preparation rather than as something worth photographing. A few years later, when the images are wanted, there is nothing to go back to.
Safety and sequence, on the record
Demolition carries real risk and tight safety obligations. A daily photographic record supports safety reporting, establishes when each section came down, and answers the questions that arrive from neighbours or authorities.
The condition before you started
Disputes about damage to neighbouring property are a normal part of demolition work. A record that starts before the first machine arrives and continues daily is the most direct answer available.
The story carries into the new build
Most demolition clears the ground for something else. Installing the camera at the demolition stage means it holds the same position throughout, so the framing matches and one film shows the old building going and the new one rising in its place.
Selected work
Demolition work we have recorded
Dusit Thani Hotel
Five years and six months without a break, January 2019 to July 2024 — the demolition of a hotel that stood on the Silom–Rama IV corner for decades, and the construction of Dusit Central Park in its place, from one camera that never moved.
Combined-cycle power plant, Rayong
The demolition of a large power plant, from intact structure through to cleared and handed-over site — the longest film in our portfolio.
RSP
Five hundred days of continuous recording through the demolition and refurbishment of an existing building — the kind of job where the site does not match the drawings and the scope shifts as it goes, which is exactly when a day-by-day record earns its keep.
Demolition jobs vary enormously in length, from a few weeks to several years, and we set up for either end of that. The shortest job we have recorded ran four days; the longest, five years and seven months.
Common questions
What demolition clients ask us first
How far ahead should the camera go in?
The sooner the better. At a minimum you want the building intact, before the machines arrive — that set is the baseline everything afterwards is compared against, and it is the one thing that can never be re-shot.
Where do you mount it, if the building is going?
On a neighbouring building or on something that will still be standing at the end — never on what is coming down. Choosing that point is what the site survey is for, and it is the main reason we ask to visit before quoting.
Can a camera survive that much dust?
Demolition throws more dust than any other phase of construction. Our rigs are designed and built in-house to sit outdoors for the whole job, and we check what arrives every day — if the glass starts to go, we know that day.
If a new build follows, is that a separate job?
It does not have to be, and running straight through is much the better outcome: the camera stays put, the framing matches, and one film covers the old building and the new one. The five years and six months at Dusit were exactly that.
Next step
Arrange a site survey
Tell us where the building is, when demolition starts, and whether a new project follows. We will visit to find a mounting point that will still be there at the end, and quote against what is actually on site.