Nah no special tools required, I had most of my drivers side dash off the other day trying to trace down a rattle. Theres 4 screws under the steering wheel column, then that bit of plastic below clicks off, and then 4 bolts that old the pod to the top. They are a bit of a pain to get to, but can be done quite easily
Oh, you may also need to remove the lower dash finisher. I did on mine, but that was because I was looking to remove as much of it all as possible. You may not be able to remove the lower wheel column without removing the lower dash, which also means removeing the plastic covering the fuse box and a few screws.
Follow the service manual