Found asbestos in an Exeter home? Start here

Exeter lost much of its centre in the Baedeker raids of May 1942, and the rebuilding that followed through the 1950s and 60s, Princesshay, the High Street blocks and the council estates at Whipton, Beacon Heath, Burnthouse Lane and Wonford, happened in the years when asbestos was at its most common in British building. Asbestos cement roofing and soffits, insulating board around boilers and in warm air heating cupboards, sprayed coatings on steel frames and textured ceiling finishes were all normal then. The Victorian terraces of St Thomas, Heavitree and Mount Pleasant were built long before any of that, so what turns up in them came in with later work: old floor tiles, Artex ceilings, bath panels and the flues fitted when gas heating went in. The material decides whether licensed work is needed. The age of the house does not.

Every HSE licensed asbestos contractor with a Devon address

There are three firms holding a licence with a Devon address. The membership directory most people land on first lists only firms that pay to be in it. It is not the full picture. 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.

Three things about the Exeter list worth knowing

• One of the three is on the edge of Exeter. The other two are at Newton Abbot, about twenty minutes down the A380, and at Bideford in North Devon. The address in the table is where the office is, not how far the firm will travel.
• Devon is a big county with a short list. The county’s three licence holders cover everything from Ilfracombe to Plymouth, which is a lot of ground for so few offices. Somerset’s three holders and the Bristol firms quote for Exeter work as a matter of routine, so it is worth looking across the border here.
• The council itself points you at the licence register. Devon County Council’s asbestos disposal page links to the CONIAC list of current licence holders, which is the same source this table is built from. The council does not recommend individual firms.

Getting rid of asbestos in Exeter

Devon County Council takes bonded asbestos at nine of its recycling centres, and Exeter’s site at Pinbrook Road is one of them. The others are Bideford, Honiton, Kingsbridge, Newton Abbot, Okehampton, Tavistock, Tiverton and Torrington. No other Devon centre takes it. The limit is ten sheets or bags per visit, sheets no bigger than three metres by one and a half, each one double wrapped in thick plastic and sealed with duct tape, or double bagged in small DIY store sand bags. The council asks you to ring 0345 155 1010 before bringing large sheets, because container space is limited. One rule catches people out: artificial slates, cement boards, Artex and vermiculite are all treated as asbestos at the gate whatever certificate you bring, and charged accordingly. Anything a contractor has already removed cannot go through the household route, because it counts as business waste and the council’s page says plainly that disposal is the tradesman’s responsibility. The county’s asbestos disposal page has the current rules.

Who checks the work in Exeter

Licensed removal is notified to the HSE and inspected by it wherever the job is. For shops, offices, the university estate and the retail parks at Marsh Barton and Sowton, the enforcing body for the duty to manage asbestos is either the HSE or Exeter City Council’s environmental health officers, depending on what kind of premises it is. Renters should go to the landlord first, since the duty to manage asbestos is the landlord’s.

The South West and the mesothelioma figures

Exeter’s exposure came from rebuilding the city and from the trades that maintained it afterwards, rather than from heavy industry. The post war centre, the estates and the schools of the 1950s and 60s all went up with asbestos in them, and the carpenters, plumbers and electricians who worked on those buildings for the next thirty years carry the risk today. Mesothelioma can take forty years to show, so a rate measured now reflects that work.

The South West records 57.6 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 Exeter is likely to cost

Exeter sits in the higher labour band of the South West, and a short licensed list gives firms little reason to quote low. Travel is the other factor. A Newton Abbot or Somerset firm will price the journey in, and a licensed job has to be notified to the HSE fourteen days before it starts, so there is no such thing as a quick licensed job here. For the wider picture, see what asbestos removal costs across the UK, and where the published price guides disagree.

Asbestos removal in Exeter: questions people ask

Will the council remove asbestos from my house?

No. Neither Exeter City Council nor Devon County Council removes asbestos for homeowners. The county takes bonded asbestos at nine recycling centres, including Pinbrook Road, which is covered above.

Can I take asbestos to the tip in Exeter?

Yes, at Pinbrook Road, bonded asbestos only, up to ten sheets or bags, double wrapped and taped. Ring first if the sheets are large. A contractor’s waste cannot go this way.

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 Devon address, at Exeter, Newton Abbot and Bideford. Firms based in Somerset and Bristol also work across Exeter, so your real choice is wider than the table.

Getting a quote from an Exeter 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 Bristol and Bournemouth and Dorset.

Not in Exeter? See every area we cover.