Asbestos Removal in Essex

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 Essex? 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 and it has to be disposed of through a licensed route.
• Do not take a sample yourself. Taking the sample is the moment the fibres get released.
• Close the door and keep people out of the area 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 Essex

Essex holds more asbestos licences than any other county in Britain. There are 64 on the register with an Essex address, out of 361 in the whole United Kingdom. That is roughly one in every six.

Those 64 licences are held by 63 companies. Ashbee Solutions appears twice because its renewal has already been granted, so the old licence and the new one both sit on the register at the moment.

Read the Type column before you ring anybody. 59 of these are standard licences, which is the one that covers removal work. Four are scaffolding licences and one is a maintenance licence. Those five are on the register and they are perfectly real, but they do not mean what most people assume.

Contractors travel. A licensed firm in Basildon will normally work across the county and into east London without any difficulty, so do not rule out a company because it is thirty miles up the road.

Swipe the table sideways on a phone to see every column.

Four things on the Essex 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, most obviously 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 the work has to be notified to the HSE in advance.
• Notifiable non-licensed work sits in the middle. No licence is needed, but the work still has to be notified, records kept, and health surveillance provided.
• Non-licensed work covers the 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 Essex without appearing on the list above. 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 Essex

Essex is harder than most counties on this, and it is worth knowing before you load anything into the car.

• Essex County Council recycling centres do not take it. The county’s own recycling centre policy states that hazardous waste is not accepted at any ECC recycling centre. Turning up with it is a wasted trip.
• Thurrock Council does not collect it and will not take it at Linford. Its guidance tells residents to find a privately operated site that accepts asbestos, ring ahead to confirm they will take it, and ask what they charge.
• Southend and the district councils each set their own rules. Essex is split across a county council, two unitary authorities and twelve districts, so there is no single Essex answer.

So check your own council’s page before you move anything, and ring the site first. Their version is the one that counts, not ours, and these rules change.

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 Essex 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 it has to be disposed of. A garage roof and a boiler room are different jobs with different rules.

What Essex does give you is competition. With 59 firms holding a standard licence in one county, you are in a stronger position than someone in Cornwall ringing the only one. Use it.

Get more than one quote, get them in writing, and make sure each quote 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 Essex: questions people ask

Why does Essex have so many licensed contractors?

Sixty-four out of 361 nationally is a genuine outlier and not a mistake in the data. The Thames corridor through Grays, Tilbury and Basildon has a long industrial history, and a lot of firms serving east London register on the Essex side of the boundary. The count is what the register says.

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, which is why the advice above is mostly about leaving it alone.

When was asbestos banned in the UK?

Blue and brown asbestos were banned in 1985. White asbestos followed in 1999. Any building worked on before 2000 may contain it, so age of the property is the first thing to consider.

Can I remove a small asbestos garage roof myself?

Legally, a householder may handle some lower risk materials on their own property. Whether it is a good idea is a different question, and it depends entirely on what the material actually is and what condition it is in. Get it identified first. If it turns out to be insulating board rather than cement sheet, the answer changes completely. Bear in mind the disposal problem above before you start.

What is the difference between a standard and a scaffolding licence?

A standard licence covers the removal work itself. A scaffolding licence only covers erecting and dismantling scaffold around that work. Four companies on the Essex list hold a scaffolding licence and cannot remove anything for you.

How do I know if a contractor is really licensed?

Ask for the licence number and check it against the table above or the published 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 register for the county 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 an Essex contractor

Ring any of the companies above directly. Their numbers are on the 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 Essex? See all areas we cover.