Asbestos Removal in Birmingham and the West Midlands

This page lists every firm the HSE currently licenses across the West Midlands for asbestos removal, and roughly half of them sit in Birmingham itself. Seven councils meet inside this region and each sets its own rules on what a household tip will take, so the answer in Sutton Coldfield is not automatically the answer in Solihull or Sandwell. Nothing here needs doing this afternoon: material in sound condition that nobody has touched is not the emergency people assume it is.

• Stop the job, do not finish it. Drilling, sawing or pulling a sheet down is the moment fibres come loose.
• A wheelie bin and a skip are both the wrong answer. Asbestos is hazardous waste with its own paperwork.
• A photograph settles nothing. Cement sheet and insulating board look alike, and only a laboratory can separate them.

Every HSE licensed asbestos contractor covering Birmingham

These are the sixteen 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.

14 of the 16 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.

Three things on the Birmingham list worth knowing

• Not every firm here removes asbestos. Two firms here hold a scaffolding licence, not a removal one: Ashdurn Limited in Birmingham and MG Scaffolding (Oxford) Limited in Brierley Hill. A scaffolding licence covers putting up and taking down scaffold around asbestos work, not removing anything, so those are not who you ring about a garage roof.
• Keep an eye on expiry dates. None of the West Midlands firms hold a licence expiring in the next 6 weeks. Licences get renewed all the time and this is not an accusation, but if you are booking work for the autumn it is a fair thing to ask.
• Wolverhampton Homes Limited is the council’s housing company. It holds a licence for its own housing stock rather than to take work from the public. If you are a Wolverhampton Homes tenant that is who deals with it. If you are not, it is not a firm you can hire.

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.

The West Midlands has the lowest rate in England

• West Midlands: 45.8 deaths per million
• Great Britain as a whole: 55.9

Lower than every other English region, and well below the North East at 72.6. Birmingham’s industry was metalworking and manufacturing rather than shipbuilding, which is what drives the highest rates.

Figures from the HSE’s mesothelioma statistics for Great Britain.

Asbestos removal in Birmingham: questions people ask

Why do some 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 so few in the West Midlands?

Yes. Across the whole of the United Kingdom there are 362 licensed contractors. That is a normal share for a region the size of the West Midlands, 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.

Do you take a fee from these companies?

No. The list above is the complete HSE register for the region. Every company on it is there because the HSE licensed it, and no company can pay to be added, moved up, or left off.

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.

Firms in the neighbouring counties quote for this work routinely. If you want to widen the field, see the licensed contractors covering Stoke and Staffordshire and Leicester and Leicestershire.

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