Asbestos Removal in Birmingham and the West Midlands

We are not a removal contractor and we do not take a commission on the work. This page exists so you can see who is legally allowed to do the job, and check it for yourself.

Found asbestos in Birmingham? Do this before you ring anyone

If you have found something you think is asbestos, the chances are you are not in danger this minute. Asbestos in good condition, sealed and left alone, is generally not releasing fibres. The danger comes from disturbing it: drilling, breaking, sanding, or sweeping up the dust.

• Do not touch it, drill it or break it. Every one of those releases fibres that were sitting harmlessly a moment before.
• Do not sweep or hoover any dust. A domestic vacuum spreads fibres around the room and out of the exhaust.
• Do not put it in a skip or your bin. Asbestos is hazardous waste with its own disposal route.
• Do not take a sample yourself. Taking the sample is the moment the fibres get released.
• Close the door and keep people out if the material is already damaged or crumbling.

Then get it identified. You cannot tell whether something contains asbestos by looking at it, and neither can anyone else, including us. It takes a laboratory test.

Every HSE licensed asbestos contractor covering Birmingham

These are the seventeen companies holding a Health and Safety Executive asbestos licence with a registered address in the West Midlands. Around half of them are in Birmingham itself. The licence number and expiry date are exactly as they appear on the HSE register, so you can check any of them yourself in about thirty seconds.

15 of the 17 can take a removal job. The rest hold scaffolding licences, which cover putting up scaffold around asbestos work rather than removing anything. They are listed because they are on the register, and marked so you do not waste a phone call.

Four things on the Birmingham list worth knowing

How to check an asbestos licence yourself

Not all asbestos work needs a licensed contractor

This trips people up, so it is worth being precise. The law splits the work into three groups.

• Licensed work covers the higher risk materials: sprayed coatings, lagging on pipes and boilers, and insulating board where the work is more than short duration. Only a company holding an HSE licence may do it, and it has to be notified to the HSE in advance.
• Notifiable non-licensed work sits in the middle. No licence needed, but the work still has to be notified, records kept and health surveillance provided.
• Non-licensed work covers lower risk materials in good condition, such as asbestos cement sheets on a garage roof, and some textured coatings.

That last group is why you will see firms advertising asbestos removal in Birmingham without holding a licence. They may well be operating legally on the lower risk materials. The problem is that you cannot tell which group your material falls into until it has been identified, and a company that shrugs at that question is telling you something.

Our honest position: if you do not yet know what the material is, start with someone qualified to survey it rather than someone keen to remove it.

Getting rid of small amounts in Birmingham

If the material turns out to be a lower risk type in good condition and the quantity is small, you may not need a removal contractor at all. Birmingham City Council operates household recycling centres with rules on hazardous waste, and neighbouring councils in Solihull, Dudley, Walsall, Sandwell, Wolverhampton and Coventry each set their own. Check your own council’s current rules, quantity limits and booking process before you move anything, because those change and theirs is the version that counts.

What you must not do is put it in a household bin, a skip, or the back of a van to a general tip.

What asbestos removal in Birmingham is likely to cost

We are not going to invent a figure, because the honest answer is that it depends on the material, the quantity, the access and how the waste has to be disposed of. A garage roof and a boiler room are different jobs under different rules.

What we will say is this: get more than one quote, get them in writing, and make sure each one states the licence number of the company doing the work and confirms how the waste will be transferred and documented. A quote that covers those things is worth more than one that is fifty pounds cheaper and vague.

Asbestos removal in Birmingham: questions people ask

Is it dangerous to live in a house with asbestos in it?

Millions of British homes built or refurbished before 2000 contain some asbestos. Undisturbed and in good condition, it is generally left in place and managed rather than removed. It is disturbance that creates the risk.

Why do two of these firms have a scaffolding licence?

Because scaffolding around licensed asbestos work is itself licensed activity. Those companies put the scaffold up safely. They are not the people who remove the asbestos, and we show the licence type on every row so the difference is visible rather than buried.

Are there really only sixteen in the West Midlands?

Yes. Across the whole of the United Kingdom there are 367 licensed contractors. Sixteen for a region the size of the West Midlands is a normal share, and it is a good illustration of how far from routine the licence is.

Can a firm from outside the West Midlands do my job?

Yes. A licence is national, not regional. Contractors travel, and a licensed firm in Staffordshire, Worcestershire or Warwickshire will happily work in Birmingham.

How do I know if a contractor is really licensed?

Ask for the licence number and check it against the table above or the HSE register directly. A licensed contractor hands the number over without hesitating, because holding it is what wins them the work.

Do you take a fee from these companies?

The list above is the complete HSE register for the region and every company on it is there because the HSE licensed it, not because it paid us. If that ever changes for any part of this page, the page will say so plainly.

Getting a quote from a Birmingham contractor

Ring any of the companies above directly. Their numbers are on the HSE register and we have not altered them.

If you would rather describe the job and have licensed local firms come back to you, use the form below. We pass it on and nothing else happens to it.

Not in the West Midlands? See all areas we cover.