Asbestos Removal in Liverpool and Merseyside

Found asbestos in Liverpool? Do this before you ring anyone

Merseyside’s housing runs the full range. The Victorian terraces of Toxteth, Dingle, Anfield, Kensington and Wavertree, and the same rows across the water in Birkenhead and Wallasey, tend to hide asbestos in later modernising: textured ceiling coatings, floor tiles and boarding around fireplaces. The post-war estates of Speke, Norris Green and Kirkby, and the tower blocks that followed the slum clearances, are where the higher risk materials show up, because insulating board and pipe lagging were standard then. Two very different jobs, and the difference decides whether you legally need a licensed firm.

Every HSE licensed asbestos contractor covering Merseyside

There are nine firms holding a licence here, and they are not all in Liverpool. The list runs across the county, from the city itself out to Bootle, Prescot and Knowsley, over to Birkenhead on the Wirral, and up to St Helens and Newton-le-Willows. The trade association directory most people find first shows fewer than this, because a firm only appears there once it pays for membership. Neither list is wrong. One is just longer.

8 of the 9 hold a standard licence, and that is the type that covers removal.

Two things on the Merseyside list worth knowing

• Not every firm here removes asbestos. One firm here holds a scaffolding licence, not a removal one: Enigma Industrial Services Ltd in Newton-le-willows. 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. So for removal work your real choice is the eight firms holding a standard licence. Check the Type column before you ring, and do not assume every name on a licence list can do your job.

Getting rid of small amounts in Liverpool

Liverpool City Council is clear that it does not sample, analyse or remove asbestos for residents, and it tells renters to speak to their landlord rather than arranging anything themselves. Removal is down to you or a contractor. What the council does help with is disposal, once the material is out and wrapped.

• Do not put asbestos in your purple bin. It is hazardous waste and must never go in with the household rubbish.
• It is booked, not turn-up. Cement bonded asbestos is taken by appointment only, at a limited number of household waste sites, through the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority’s Recycle Right service. Book the slot before you go anywhere.
• Cement materials only. The service covers things like corrugated and flat cement sheets from a garage or shed, flue pipes, floor tiles and old lino backing. Anything fibrous is a contractor job, not a tip job.
• Not builder’s waste. The scheme does not take asbestos created by a builder or tradesperson doing paid work, and it does not take it from rental properties or allotments.

Check the current booking route and phone number on the council’s own asbestos page before you set off, because the arrangements are run through the waste authority and can change.

One point is worth more than the rest put together, and the council’s own rule spells it out. If a builder creates the waste, disposing of it is the builder’s legal responsibility. That is exactly why the council scheme refuses trade waste. Check what you have signed before you accept a bill for it.

Why asbestos still matters on Merseyside

The Health and Safety Executive publishes death rates for mesothelioma, the cancer caused almost entirely by asbestos exposure, by region. For men in 2022 to 2024:

• North West: 54.6 deaths per million
• Great Britain as a whole: 55.9

The North West sits close to the national figure, which surprises people who expect a docks and shipping city to be far above it. The rate reflects a whole region rather than Liverpool alone, and the dock and ship repair work that exposed men here was concentrated in particular trades rather than spread across it.

The group most at risk has changed. The HSE says it is now people who worked in the building trades while asbestos was still in use, carpenters, plumbers and electricians, rather than the industries usually associated with it. In a city with this much pre-1980s housing, that means the risk today is somebody opening up a ceiling or a boiler cupboard without knowing what is in it.

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

Asbestos removal in Liverpool: questions people ask

Will the council remove asbestos from my house?

No. Liverpool City Council states plainly that it does not sample, analyse or remove asbestos. It will take cement bonded material off you for disposal once you have removed and wrapped it, by appointment. If you rent, the council says to speak to your landlord.

Can I take asbestos to the tip in Liverpool?

Only by appointment, and only cement materials. It is booked through the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority’s Recycle Right service, accepted at a limited number of sites, and it must not go in your purple bin or a normal tip visit.

My builder found asbestos. Who pays to get rid of it?

The builder, in most cases. The waste is legally theirs unless your contract says you are disposing of it, which is why the council disposal scheme will not accept trade waste at all. Check the contract before paying twice.

How many licensed contractors are near me?

9 hold a current licence with a Merseyside address, and eight of those hold the standard licence that covers removal. Firms based in Cheshire, Lancashire and Greater Manchester also work across Merseyside, so your real choice is wider than the table.

Getting a quote from a Liverpool contractor

Firms in the neighbouring counties quote for Merseyside work routinely. If you want to widen the field, see the licensed contractors covering Chester and Cheshire and Preston and Lancashire, both of which reach into Merseyside.

Not in Liverpool? See every area we cover.