Asbestos is one of the most dangerous building materials. It is known to damage health and contact with it kills over two and a half thousand people in the UK every year. You could be inadvertently putting lives at risk if you are not aware of the strict regulations regarding its removal and disposal.

A ban on its use in construction came into force in November 1999, which is only twenty years ago, so a large number of buildings; homes, factories, public buildings etc. contain materials which have been made using asbestos.

The danger comes from inhaling the particles which cannot be exhaled from the lungs and can cause a fatal disease called mesothelioma. It can take years to develop in the body, without you knowing, and once established is terminal, with no cure possible. It is from diagnosis to death in around a year, which is a terrible prospect, when this can be avoided.

Asbestos was popular for detached garages and garden sheds in the mid 20th century, which were made from panels of it and you may well have seen that many homes still have these in situ. If you have a home built before around 1980 you could have it in your floor tiles, ceiling tiles, ducts, pipes and in insulation around your boiler. Even your Artex ceiling could contain its fibres.

Home improvement is a hugely popular pastime as people love to add value by modernising their homes, having the latest style of bathroom and kitchen adds value to your property and installing a new boiler is necessary after a few years. The danger in ripping out almost anything in your home is that it could be either made of asbestos or contain asbestos fibres. These can form a cloud when broken up, which when breathed in can sow the seed of this terrible, always fatal, disease. Please consult us first before you consider doing anything that might cause these dangerous fibres to contaminate your home or business premises.

Our company is family owned and fully professional and therefore we are able to give a personalised service for the residents of Essex and of the South East of England to ensure that all asbestos is removed in compliance with the regulations. We do not sub-contract so that you can be assured that we will be in charge of your enterprise from beginning to end and guaranteeing a top quality service.

It may be that you are renovating your business. Asbestos can be found in offices and public buildings including schools, libraries and hospitals. Hospitals, for example, have extensive boiler rooms which traditionally had asbestos insulation. In fact, most buildings, apart from recently built, will have some form of asbestos, often where you don’t expect to find it as little thought was given to the dangers from this toxic mineral.

There is a legal presumption that any commercial building built before the year 2000 contains asbestos, which makes it imperative that everything that is reasonably practicable, must be done to establish whether asbestos is present which is by a survey carried out by our highly qualified team who will report the locations of any found back to us and to you. We will check any documentation that you have and carry out an inspection inside and out, as far as is possible. This will include any yards, sheds, garages, outbuildings, underfloor areas, ducts, corridors, ceiling voids, runs of pipes and storerooms.

In domestic premises, we would need to examine lifts, lift shafts, staircases, roof spaces, foyers, gardens, yards, outbuildings and garages.

The only way to ensure your, your employees’ or the service users’ protection from this danger is to employ a company that specialises in its safe removal. You will need a business that has been granted an asbestos licence from the UK Health and Safety Executive. We have extensive experience in this field and also provide a waste collection service.

We can project manage so that the asbestos in your premises, home or garage can be assessed. A survey must be done and a plan made for its removal or encapsulation. We will carry out your soft stripping if you need everything cleared. We will make good by replacing anything that we have had to remove. All our project managers have undergone DBS checks so that you can be confident that they are suitable to work in any environment where they come into contact with vulnerable people.

We also offer you a full CDM service that complies with CDM regulations 2015 that plans the works so that the risks involved are managed from start to finish with a designer and a principal contractor and provide a Health and Safety File on completion.

You are most welcome to check on the qualifications of our surveyors and their competence and ask for copies of their written procedures, including their quality control and evidence of similar work they have carried out, which will give you peace of mind.

It is important to use only an accredited company like ours because if you employ one that does not have the correct certification, you could be liable to be prosecuted and some people have had fines of six-figure sums.

What is important to our clients is, as well as our safety practices is clear pricing for each job. We have a reasonably priced tariff and believe that transparency is essential in our good relationship with our customers.

Before you begin any work on your domestic or business premises built before the start of the 21st century, call us. We are here to give you the guidance that you need. Why risk your health or that of anyone you will be employing to carry out the work? We provide an inexpensive option to safeguard you all and if you do have some, we will safely dispose of it for you. You can’t just take it to the local tip.

Let’s keep Essex an asbestos safe zone.