East Sussex, South East England
Demolition Company and Groundwork Contractors in East Sussex
Demolition company and groundwork contractors in East Sussex, based at St Leonards-on-Sea. Strip out, piling, site enabling and civils. Call 01424 830613.
Working in East Sussex
Demolition & Groundworks in East Sussex
East Sussex is home ground for The Blackford Group. Our yard is at Upper Wilting Farm on the edge of St Leonards-on-Sea, so the coast from Rye round to Brighton, the towns along the A21 and the A22, and the villages of the Weald in between are all within an hour of our plant and our lorries. We are a demolition company and a groundworks contractor with eight divisions under one roof, and most of what we do in the county is the full package: taking a building down, clearing and treating the ground, then putting in the foundations, the drainage and the slab the next trade needs.
The county splits into three kinds of ground and three kinds of job. Along the coast, Hastings, Bexhill, Eastbourne, Seaford and Newhaven are older towns with Victorian and Edwardian stock, tight streets, conservation areas and a seafront that takes a battering every winter, so demolition here is careful, strip out is constant and sea defence is a division of its own. Inland, Lewes, Uckfield, Hailsham, Heathfield and Crowborough are growing, with housing sites, new schools and industrial units that need enabling works, bulk excavation and groundworks packages. Across the High Weald and the Marsh edge near Rye the work is farm buildings, barn conversions, private houses and the drainage and access that go with them.
Planning runs through five district councils, Hastings, Rother, Wealden, Lewes and Eastbourne, with East Sussex County Council as the highways authority for anything that touches the road, and Brighton and Hove as a unitary authority of its own. Demolition needs a Section 80 notice to the borough or district before it starts, and highway licences for skips, hoardings and closures come from the county. We deal with all of it as part of the job, because a site that is waiting on a licence is a site that is costing money.
Access shapes the price of a job in East Sussex more than most places. The A21 north to the M25 is single carriageway for much of its length, the A27 through Lewes and Polegate is busy in both directions, and the A259 along the coast is slow through every town it passes. Running our own tippers and low loaders means we plan the haul around those roads rather than paying a haulier to sit in the queue, and it means a job in Rye or Crowborough is a normal day for us rather than a mobilisation.
Our services
What We Deliver in East Sussex
Our eight divisions are Demolition, Strip Out, Groundworks, Site Enabling and Remediation, Haulage and Muck Away, Sea Defence, Piling, and Underpinning, with bulk excavation and civil engineering packages under the groundworks banner. In East Sussex that matters because most of it is within an hour of our yard, so the team that takes the building down on Monday is the team digging the foundations on Thursday, with the same supervisor and the same lorries in between.
On the ground
What East Sussex Sites Actually Need.
Sandstone, Clay and Chalk in One County
The east of the county sits on the Hastings Beds, a mix of Ashdown sandstone, Wadhurst Clay and Tunbridge Wells sand that changes from firm to running within a single excavation and carries springs that appear the moment the ground is opened. Move west and south and the Weald Clay takes over, shrinking and swelling with the seasons and the trees, which is why so much of our underpinning work is around Uckfield, Hailsham and the older parts of the coastal towns. Lewes, Seaford, Eastbourne and Brighton sit on the chalk of the South Downs, which digs cleanly but has its own habits, from solution features to flints that punish a bucket. We read the ground investigation before we price, and we put in trial holes where the records look thin.
Coast, Rivers and Made Ground
Every seafront town in the county has ground that was made up, culverted or reclaimed at some point, and it shows in the drainage, in the buried structures and in what comes out of the ground on a site enabling job. The Pevensey Levels, the Cuckmere, the Ouse at Lewes and Newhaven and the Rother at Rye all bring flood risk and high water tables, so foundations, basements and drainage are designed around water rather than in spite of it. Our Sea Defence division exists because of this coast: sheet piling, rock armour, revetments and access ramps on beaches that move every winter.
Old Buildings, Tight Streets and Neighbours
Hastings Old Town, the Burton's St Leonards estate, Lewes, Rye and the seafronts of Bexhill and Eastbourne are full of listed buildings and conservation areas, and most of the housing stock in the coastal towns is terraced or semi detached with a party wall on at least one side. That means demolition and strip out done in sequence rather than in one go, temporary works to hold what stays up, dust and noise controlled at source, and machines sized to the access rather than the access widened to suit the machine.
Where we work
Areas We Cover Across East Sussex
Hastings and St Leonards-on-Sea
Our home town. Steep terraced streets, the Old Town's lanes, big seafront buildings split into flats, and the industrial estates at Ivyhouse Lane, Castleham and Ponswood. Strip out, careful demolition, underpinning on the clay, and site clearance for the estates. Hastings has a page of its own.
Bexhill-on-Sea
Edwardian seafront stock, the North East Bexhill growth area off Combe Valley Way, and the Beeching Road and Brett Drive industrial areas. Site enabling, groundworks for new housing and units, and strip out in the town centre. Bexhill has its own page.
Eastbourne
The largest town on this stretch of coast, with Sovereign Harbour, the Hampden Park industrial area and a seafront of hotels and flats. Demolition and groundworks for housing, commercial refits, and drainage on low lying ground behind the front. Eastbourne has its own page.
Lewes
The county town, on the chalk at the gap in the Downs where the Ouse runs through. Historic centre with listed buildings and tight access, flood risk along the river, and the North Street Quarter and Malling areas where redevelopment happens. Careful strip out and demolition, groundworks on chalk and alluvium.
Newhaven and Seaford
A working port with an enterprise zone and older industrial ground on the east side of the Ouse, and a residential seaside town next door on the chalk. Site clearance, remediation and groundworks around the port, and demolition and foundations for housing in Seaford.
Hailsham and Polegate
The fastest growing part of Wealden, with large housing sites off the A22 and the A27 and a spread of industrial units around Diplocks Way and Station Road. Bulk excavation, cut and fill, roads and drainage for new estates, and enabling works on former farmland.
Uckfield, Crowborough and Heathfield
Market towns on the Weald along the A22 and the A26, with housing growth, older industrial estates and a lot of clay. Site enabling, groundworks for new build, underpinning on shrinkable ground and demolition of redundant commercial buildings.
Battle and the 1066 Country
Villages along the A21 and the A271 with farms, barns and large private houses. Demolition of agricultural buildings, site clearance, drainage and access roads, and groundworks for replacement dwellings and conversions.
Rye and the Marsh Edge
The eastern end of the county, where the High Weald meets the flat drained ground of the Marsh and the Rother levels. Soft ground and high water tables change the method for foundations and drainage, and piling comes into it more often than anywhere else in the county.
Brighton and Hove
The city at the western end of the county, a unitary authority with its own planning and highways. Tight urban sites, chalk under most of it, conservation areas on the front and around The Lanes. Strip out, demolition behind retained facades, basements and groundworks. Brighton and Hove has its own page.
Who we work for
Clients We Look After in East Sussex
Commercial and Town Centre
Shops, offices, hotels, pubs and seafront buildings across Hastings, Bexhill, Eastbourne, Lewes and Brighton. Strip out ready for refit, structural alterations, full demolition where a building has reached the end, and the groundworks, drainage and slabs for what replaces it, usually with a neighbour on one side and a live street on the other.
Industrial, Housing and Infrastructure
The industrial estates at Ivyhouse Lane, Castleham, Hampden Park, Newhaven and Hailsham, and the housing growth around Bexhill, Hailsham, Uckfield and Eastbourne. Site enabling on former industrial ground, bulk excavation and cut and fill for new estates, piling mats, adoptable roads and drainage, and the foundations and slabs for new units.
Residential and Private Clients
Homeowners, landlords, architects and small builders across the county, from a garage or a rear extension coming down to a whole plot cleared for a new house, plus underpinning where Victorian footings have moved on the clay and drainage that never matched the drawings. The same survey, sequencing and paperwork apply whatever the size.
FAQs
East Sussex Questions
The things people in East Sussex ask us most. If your question is not here, call 01424 830613 and we will answer it straight.
Which parts of East Sussex do you cover?+
All of it. Hastings, Bexhill and Eastbourne are on our doorstep, and Rye, Battle, Hailsham, Uckfield, Crowborough, Lewes, Newhaven, Seaford and Brighton and Hove are all regular runs for our plant and lorries. Several of the larger towns have a page of their own on this site, and we work nationwide beyond the county for the right job.
Are you a demolition company or a groundworks contractor?+
Both, and that is the point. The Blackford Group started in groundworks and demolition and grew into eight divisions that cover the whole stage between a standing building and a finished platform. On most East Sussex jobs we take the building down, clear and treat the ground, and then put in the foundations, the drainage and the slab, all with our own teams.
Do you handle the council notices and highway licences?+
Yes. Demolition needs a Section 80 notice served on the district or borough council before it starts, and the council can attach conditions. Skips, hoardings, scaffolding on the pavement and road closures need licences from East Sussex Highways, or from Brighton and Hove City Council in the city. We arrange them and build the lead times into the programme.
The building is Victorian and mid terrace. Can you take it down safely?+
Yes, and a lot of our work in the coastal towns is exactly that. The party wall matters are settled first, the building is stripped and then taken down in sequence with temporary works holding what stays, the exposed wall is made weathertight, and the arisings go out on our own lorries. Anything built or refurbished before 2000 gets an asbestos survey first.
How do you price a job in East Sussex?+
From a site visit and whatever exists already: drawings, structural reports, asbestos surveys, ground investigation. You get a written quote setting out what is included, what is excluded and what would change it. Because most of the county is close to our yard, the price does not carry the travel and mobilisation that a contractor from further away has to add.
Do you do sea defence and coastal work?+
Yes, through our own Sea Defence division. Steel sheet piling, rock armour, revetments, concrete access ramps and beach works along the East Sussex coast, run by our own teams with our own plant. Herbrand Walk at Bexhill is one example on our projects page.
Recent Work
If you have a project anywhere in East Sussex, whether that is a strip out in Eastbourne, a house coming down in Hastings, a site to clear in Hailsham, underpinning in Uckfield or coastal work at Rye, we are happy to come and look at it. Call 01424 830613 or send the drawings over and we will tell you straight away whether it is a job for us and roughly what it will take.
Planning Work in East Sussex?
Tell us what you need moving, clearing or building and we will come back with a straight answer and a fair price.