Found asbestos in a Cambridge home? Start here

Cambridge is better known for its colleges than for heavy industry. The housing around them is where asbestos turns up. The Victorian terraces off Mill Road and around Romsey tend to hold the lower risk materials, textured coatings and old floor tiles added during later work. The post war estates at Arbury, Kings Hedges and Cherry Hinton are where the higher risk materials appear, because insulating board and pipe lagging were standard when they were built. What decides whether you legally need a licensed firm is the material itself, not the age of the house.

Every HSE licensed asbestos contractor covering Cambridgeshire

There are three firms holding a licence with a Cambridgeshire address. The trade association directory that most people find first only lists the ones that pay for membership, so it comes out shorter. This is the full licensed set, straight from the register.

Every firm on this list holds a standard licence, which is the type that covers removal work.

Two things about the Cambridgeshire list worth knowing

• One of the three is on the Cambridge side. The other two work out of Ely and Huntingdon, both a short run into the city. The address in the table is where the office is, not how far the firm will travel.
• Three firms is a thin list for a county this size. Expect to wait for the better ones, and expect firms from Suffolk, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire to quote for Cambridge work too. A wider field often gets you a keener price.

Getting rid of asbestos in Cambridge

Cambridgeshire does not let you drop asbestos at a recycling centre in the normal way, because it is hazardous waste. What the county runs instead is a permit service for small amounts, and the rules on it are specific.

You can dispose of cement bonded asbestos up to the equivalent of two roof sheets, if you found it in your own home and removed it yourself. You apply for a permit first. It is valid for six weeks, and the service can only be used once in any twelve months. The material has to be sealed with industrial tape or cable ties. The permit and the disposal bags are free, but there is an administration fee of £14.85 to cover processing and postage. Anything more than two sheets, or the older blue and brown types, has to go to a licensed contractor.

The East of England and the mesothelioma figures

Cambridge did not have heavy industry, but its hospitals, laboratories and college buildings used asbestos for insulation and fire protection like everywhere else, and the tradesmen who worked on them carry the same risk. Mesothelioma can take decades to show, so a rate measured today reflects work done in the 1960s and 70s.

The East of England records 64.4 asbestos related mesothelioma deaths per million men, above the Great Britain figure of 55.9. Figures from the HSE’s mesothelioma statistics for Great Britain.

What asbestos removal in Cambridge is likely to cost

Cambridge sits in a higher cost part of the country, so expect prices above the Midlands and the North. Where the city adds its own cost is access. The narrow streets in the centre, terraced rows with no rear lane, and parking restrictions all add time, and time is what you are paying for. For the wider picture, see what asbestos removal costs across the UK, and where the published price guides disagree.

Asbestos removal in Cambridge: questions people ask

Will the council remove asbestos from my house?

No. Cambridgeshire County Council does not remove asbestos for homeowners. It runs a permit service for disposing of small amounts of cement asbestos, which is covered above.

Can I take asbestos to the tip in Cambridge?

Only under the permit service, and only cement bonded asbestos up to two roof sheets, once in twelve months. You apply for the permit first and pay a £14.85 administration fee. Larger amounts, and blue or brown asbestos, need a licensed contractor.

Do I always need a licensed contractor?

Not for every material. The law treats some lower risk asbestos cement as non-licensed work, while insulating board, pipe lagging and sprayed coatings must go to a firm holding a standard licence. The safe move is to have the material identified by a lab first, so you know which rules apply before anyone touches it. See our guide to what an asbestos survey costs.

How many licensed contractors are near me?

3 hold a current licence with a Cambridgeshire address, one of them on the Cambridge side. Firms based in Suffolk, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire also work across the city, so your real choice is wider than the table.

Getting a quote from a Cambridge contractor

The firms above quote for this work routinely, and so do firms in the neighbouring counties. To widen the field, see the licensed contractors covering Hertfordshire.

Not in Cambridge? See every area we cover.