Ok so one week in and the fabia has developed one of the dreaded dash creaks

It seems to be coming from the cowling round the instrument pannel

Can anyone tell me how the surround comes out so that i can put some padding up there to stop the squeek?

Thanks

I take it you mean the inner surround that butts up to the clear plastic covering the instruments ?.

If so, drop the steering column to its lowest setting with the adjuster and pull out as far as it will go. The surround is just clipped in place and pulls out towards the steering wheel. Start at the bottom each side of the cuttout for the steering column. The top half is held in by metal clips around the binnacle - some of these may ping off as you remove it, but are quite large and easy to find !!.

put something over the instruments themselves, as a fly clip could damage and scratch the cluster as it scratches easily.

No need to lower the steering column, just put your thumbs on the under side of the inner surround with finger on top of the curved cubicle surround (top of dashboard) push up and move back the surround piece.