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Infrastructure Asbestos
When driving to your next appointment, do you wonder how much asbestos has been used on the roads? Despite being banned back in 1999 in the UK, there is still plenty around on our roads and rail network, and most is both visible and accessible!
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Most modern bridges have expansion joints to account for temperature variation during the seasons, and those of a certain age have asbestos rope as part of that element of the bridge. Notably also on concrete bridges, a number have cement panels hanging from the deck as a form of facade or trim (although I've noted these seem to be in the process of removal, particularly along the M56 exposing the fixing points on the concrete beams).
Railways have used asbestos cement as trunking along the line for service conduits for many years, and as upgrades occur these are being replaced by modern alternatives. It will certainly be... -
Unusual Asbestos Finds
Part of the challenge for an asbestos surveyor is identifying asbestos in strange places, where you would not normally expect the material to be. An asbestos surveyor is already a building archeologist with the 'strata' of layers of a building having to be peeled away during the survey (generally in a refurbishment or demolition type rather than management), so that the building can be assessed correctly for asbestos content. This occurs because a building originally constructed at x date then may have alterations and changes made throughout its lifetime until the date of the survey.
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For instance, a Victorian mid terraced dwelling of 1870 - 1890 originally would likely have no asbestos present when built, but you will often find them now with textured coatings on walls or ceilings when added to in the 1960's onwards. Similarly, an industrial building such as a steel portal f... -
Large or Small - we survey them all!
Asbestos by its very nature can be found in all sorts of buildings.
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At Alverprise we know it can be found in all sizes and shapes of buildings, from the smallest shed to the largest tower block, with everything in between. We have been surveying for over 35 years all around the UK for management, refurbishment and demolition surveys under HSG 264 (and their predecessors the Type 1, 2 and 3 surveys found in MDHS 100) and in that time over 4000 sites covered by our surveyors.
Needless to say our experience helps in providing clients the solutions they need to identify, assess and manage the hazard people know as asbestos! -
Travelling the country!
An unfortunate aspect of asbestos surveying, or indeed any building inspection, is the need to travel the country to get to the site. On the other hand, this can also be interesting with seeing different parts of this great country.
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At Alverprise we get to see all parts of the country, from the Southwest in Devon and Cornwall, all the way to Scotland in the north. On the way we frequently attend clients in London, Essex, the Midlands and Wales, so a national service is our offering! -
Asbestos - licence to kill
Licensed to Kill – the ever present danger of asbestos used in Bond locations
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Throughout the film franchise and its 60 plus year history, James Bond has encountered plenty of villains around the world. However, one of the biggest that appears regularly and never discussed is the hazardous material Asbestos. In all its forms it can hide in plain sight least expecting a visit from our spy. Here are some locations (now mostly demolished or altered from their original views in the films):
Goldfinger DB5 car chase – Pinewood Studios.
Famous for the scene where James crashes into a wall – this is part of the original studios with asbestos cement sheeting and asbestos pipe lagging clearly visible throughout the scene
RAF Northolt
Used in various locations as airfields around the globe, particularly in Goldfinger, Thunderball and Octopussy, most of the original buildings have been de... -
Asbestos survey insurance
So you've found the idea company to provide your asbestos management survey, and the price looks too good to be true. You know what, it could well be.
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Asbestos survey companies come in all shapes and sizes, from the mega corporations offering asbestos consultancy as part of an overall package of environmental solutions ranging from ground investigation to legionella controls and fire risk assessments, through to the one man bands (the traditional 'man and a van' operation) who probably used to work within a larger company and now want to work for themselves. In between these are the smaller consultancies with maybe a dozen employees who offer either just an asbestos consultancy service or a small environmental business. Then of course there are the asbestos removal companies who offer asbestos management and consultancy to entice customers into their asbestos remedial ser... -
Asbestos survey re-inspections
When is an asbestos survey not an asbestos survey? When its an asbestos re-inspection is why!
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The asbestos regulations (Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012) require all non domestic properties to have an asbestos management plan in place, with the core elements of this as below; with the duty to manage for whoever is responsible for maintaining all or part of business premises must also manage any asbestos in the premises.
Depending on the terms of your lease, this could be you or your landlord or managing agent. In the event that maintenance responsibilities aren't clearly specified, the legal duty rests with the party which has the greatest degree of control over the premises.
If you hold this legal duty, you must:
Take reasonable steps to determine the location and condition of materials likely to contain asbestos. You may need to use the services of an external surve... -
Asbestos Demolition Surveys for Nottingham Tramlink
Alverprise Limited undertook asbestos demolition and asbestos refurbishment surveys as part of the works to demolish structures (houses, shops, offices, bridges and factories) for the Nottingham Tramlink extensions in 2010 - 2014. These involved working with Total Reclaims Demolition as they planned the project to clear land ready for the installation and development of the infrastructure of a modern tram link system. There were a number of sites involved with over 40 locations being affected, the majority being demolished but some just altered to allow new track to be laid.
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The client required the investigation of these locations to be undertaken in a programmed and planned manner, to suit when infrastructure works would be necessary and not all in one simple operation. Accordingly, the asbestos demolition surveys were programmed into a period over 18 months with some sites... -
Asbestos Surveys for Dignity Funerals
Alverprise Limited has been a supplier to Dignity Funerals Limited now for some 5 years. The client provides funeral, cremation and burial services around the UK from Penzance in Cornwall to Inverness in Scotland, and over 1000 sites in between! Alverprise have assisted Dignity in providing asbestos surveys (normally asbestos management surveys and asbestos refurbishment surveys where required, however on occasion asbestos demolition surveys have been necessary) to over 330 sites so far, with additional asbestos consultancy both to the Dignity in-house team and external suppliers / consultants where appropriate.
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As Dignity has a portfolio of building property that ranges from modern portal frame warehouse type sheds to historic / medieval a range of management options are required to allow the client to manage asbestos in their properties. For sites under the control of Dignit... -
New Year solutions
A Happy New Year to all our customers and potential clients out there. Following a peaceful Christmas with the ability to visit relatives this year it it is nice to be able to restart the new year with a positive approach and of course getting things done!
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So if you need an asbestos survey, consulting or just sample analysis drop us a line and we'll see what we can do! -
Merry Christmas
Its that time of year to look up at the skies and hope your Christmas wishes come true, but what do you wish for?
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This year has been such a difficult one for most of us with COVID causing more and more issues, and now with the Omicron variant it looks like more semi-lockdowns in the winter and possible disruption to our Christmas plan. Still, we should all be thankful of what we do have compared to others around the world who look up and wonder if life will ever be better for them.
That is the real Christmas message and one I hope everyone will agree with while they enjoy their breaks this year. Merry Christmas everyone!
PS although Alverprise never shuts we would prefer it if you left a message rather than calling between the 23rd and 28th December! -
Asbestos Surveying in a pandemic
To survey or not to survey. That is a question we get asked all the time.
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As an essential service required for the management of hazardous materials in buildings, asbestos surveys are still required under a pandemic scenario. Obviously we have to follow all necessary guidelines set down by the government and undertake the appropriate assessments and use of PPE etc.
However, asbestos hasn't got any safer in the pandemic (indeed there is a debate that failure to continue to manage asbestos would lead to greater risk from potential damage or deterioration of asbestos containing materials), so the best solution is to ensure that management policies have taken account of COVID issues and undertake re-inspections and remedial works where required.
Alverprise of course provides these services (survey, consultancy and management) as we have done since inception... -
Recent Asbestos Survey Projects June 2021
Well this month we have been mostly ..... asbestos surveying!
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With lockdown now seemingly continuing for another month or so, we continue to survey for asbestos in local and national areas, with both management and refurbishment / demolition surveys in place for our clients. Management surveys have been typically required by those continuing to buy or sell their properties, in domestic and commercial activities with the government's assistance with certain purchases appearing to assist. Refurbishment and demolition surveys are continuing to be the mainstay of our business and commercial owners see opportunity in building developments.
From a 1980's former church in Cumbria we found asbestos sealant to window frames, not a common occurrence but something to be concerned about when replacing worn out timber framed windows.
In a builders merchants in Lon... -
World War 2 Buildings
One of the best aspects to asbestos surveying for us is the access to historic buildings; even though often they are about to be demolished and this could be the last time someone appreciates the structure. It also typically means the site is inherently quite dangerous and so all the health and safety elements required are implemented without reservation.
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In the past we have been to some sites which are most definitely still standing and likely to remain so for some time to come, such as Westminster Abbey and Admiralty Arch in London, the Liver Building in Liverpool and Nottingham Council House. However one area where sites tend to be demolished more frequently is 2nd world war airfield structures, to give rise to modern warehouse structures which lend themselves so well to the relatively flat areas needed for these mega structures. One such site we visited recently could...