Developers charged over the illegal demolition of a 160-year-old Melbourne pub have been fined $1.325 million plus costs, after pleading guilty to breaching building and planning laws.

Key points: The Corkman Irish Pub in Carlton was illegally demolished in October 2016

The Corkman Irish Pub in Carlton was illegally demolished in October 2016 Magistrate Ross Maxted slammed the developers responsible, and said the big penalty should deter others

Magistrate Ross Maxted slammed the developers responsible, and said the big penalty should deter others Last year they were fined nearly $600,000 by the EPA for illegally dumping asbestos debris from the demolished pub

Developer Raman Shaqiri and his company 160 Leicester Pty Ltd pleaded guilty in May last year for knocking down the Corkman Irish Pub in Carlton in October 2016 without building or planning approval.

The company's other director, Stefce Kutlesovski, pleaded guilty to charges in January this year.

Magistrate Ross Maxted fined the company $850,000, while Shaqiri and Kutlesovski were fined $220,000 and $255,000 respectively.

Magistrate Maxted described the pair's behaviour as "reprehensible" and said significant fines were necessary to send a strong message to the building and development community that disregard for the law should not be seen as a mere cost of doing business.

"Such recklessness and bravado and such disrespect for proper compliance will be severely punished," he said.

"In my view the conduct of all three accused was sufficiently jointly reprehensible.

"The penalties will be imposed to deter such speculative and base mercantile thinking and behaviour."

Since the demolition, which sparked public outrage, the pair committed "unequivocally" to rebuilding the pub in a letter to planning minister Richard Wynne sent in October 2016.

But more than two years on, the court heard no building application had been lodged.

"The company has not taken steps to honour that," Magistrate Maxted said.

Raman Shaqiri has been ordered to pay $220,000 for his part in the illegal demolition. ( ABC News: Nicole Asher )

The Corkman Pub, formerly known as the Carlton Inn Hotel, was built in 1858 and although it wasn't on the Victorian Heritage Register, it was covered by heritage rules.

It was demolished over a weekend in October 2016, a week after a deliberate fire was lit inside the building.

Magistrate Maxted said the pub was seen by many in the community as the "character and embodiment of community spirit".

"Its historical and local significance cannot be underestimated," he said.

The court heard that after the demolition works had begun, Kutlesovski was ordered by a City of Melbourne council officer to stop the work, to which he replied, "it's my site, I can do whatever I want".

Developers previously slugged with EPA fine over asbestos

The latest penalties come after the pair and the company were fined close to $600,000 last year, for moving asbestos from the demolition site to a construction site surrounded by homes at Cairnlea, in Melbourne's north-west.

The Environment Protection Authority confirmed debris on the Corkman site contained asbestos and ordered the developers to cover it.

The pub, once called the Carlton Inn Hotel, was a favourite among university students. ( Supplied: State Library of Victoria )

Five days later a pile of rubble was found at Cairnlea, in Melbourne's north-west, opposite residential homes and only 350 metres from a childcare centre.

It was traced back to the demolished pub.

The developers pleaded guilty to moving asbestos from the site and illegally dumping it.

Shaqiri and Kutlesovski were each fined $120,000 for failing to securely contain the asbestos-riddled debris, and for then dumping it in Cairnlea.

Their company, 160 Leicester Pty Ltd, was fined a further $300,000.