Asbestos Removal in London

This page lists every firm the HSE currently licenses under London for asbestos removal. Most London recycling centres will not take asbestos. The City of London will collect bonded asbestos from the house, once in a twelve-month period, for residents in every borough except Hillingdon.

That collection is for wrapped cement sheet or rubble bags. They will not take the asbestos off the building, they will not test it, and they will not wrap it for you. The first 15 square metres, or seven builders’ rubble bags, is free. Above that they quote. Current rules and the booking form are on the City of London hazardous waste page. Hillingdon is not on that collection. West London Waste at Abbey Road, and Hornsey Street in the north, take cement-bonded asbestos for some boroughs if you book. Check the council you pay before you load the car. A trader cannot use any of this.

6 of the 7 hold a standard licence, which is the one that covers removal.

How to read the licensed contractor list for London

None of the London firms hold a licence expiring in the next 6 weeks. One firm here holds a scaffolding licence, not a removal one: PHD Modular Access Services Limited in Uxbridge. 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.

The table is short because the HSE files a lot of Greater London addresses under Essex and Kent, not because nobody works here. The Essex, Kent and Hertfordshire lists are on this site. A firm in Romford or Dartford on those tables may be closer than one in the City. Ask how far they travel, and match the licence number before you hire anyone.

Ask for the licence number and match it to the table. Search the same register the table is copied from, published by the Construction Industry Advisory Committee with the HSE.

Which list to open first

If you are in Havering, Redbridge or Barking and Dagenham, start with the Essex table as well as this one. If you are in Bexley or Bromley, start with Kent as well. Those firms are often the ones the HSE filed next door, not a London EC postcode. A Croydon or Barnet garage may still be quoted from this table. Ask. The licence number has to match either way.

Most borough tips will not take it

The City of London collection is the household route that covers most boroughs. It is a collection, not a removal. You wrap it. They collect bonded cement sheet or rubble bags, once in twelve months. Hillingdon residents are outside it. Some west and north sites take cement-bonded sheets if you book and if your borough is on their list. That list moves. Read the page for the council that collects your bins, not a neighbour’s.

Do not put it in a general skip. Do not take it to a recycling centre that does not list asbestos and hope. Staff will refuse it.

Where asbestos turns up in London housing

The usual job in the outer boroughs is a cement garage roof, soffits or a flue. In older mansion blocks and converted houses the asbestos is more often in a service cupboard, floor tiles or textured coating put in during a later refit. Those are different quotes. A garage with a drive in Enfield and a third-floor walk-up in Westminster should not come back at the same price.

If you rent from a London borough or a housing association, start with them. They survey their own stock. The list on this page is for everyone else.

Do not drill, snap or sand the material. Do not put a domestic vacuum through the dust. You cannot tell cement sheet from insulating board by looking. A laboratory test can.

Not every job needs a licensed firm

Cement-bonded garage sheets in good condition can come off whole and go on the City of London collection if you are in a borough they cover and you have not used the drop this year. Lagging, insulating board and anything broken is a different job. If the work is licensed, ring a firm on this table or on the Essex or Kent lists.

London is below the national mesothelioma rate

• London: 47.4 deaths per million
• Great Britain as a whole: 55.9

Below Great Britain at 55.9 and well below the North East at 72.6. London had no shipbuilding industry on the scale of the Tyne or the Clyde, and that is what drives the highest regional rates.

Who is at risk has changed. The HSE says the highest risk today is to people who worked in construction while asbestos was in use. In a city with this much pre-1980s housing and constant refurbishment, that is the exposure that still matters.

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

What asbestos removal costs in London

Most domestic jobs in the UK land somewhere between £400 and £3,500. Access, parking and height are what push a London price up. The household collection is only for asbestos you have already taken off and wrapped. A licensed contractor’s quote is for the removal, the HSE notification if the job needs one, and the waste paperwork. Get more than one quote, in writing, with the licence number on it. Include an Essex or Kent firm if this table is short for your postcode.

Questions about asbestos removal in London

I live in Hillingdon. Can I use the City of London collection?

No. The City of London page excludes Hillingdon. Read Hillingdon’s own waste rules, and use the table or the Essex list if you need a contractor.

Why are there only a handful of firms on this table?

The HSE files many Greater London addresses under Essex, Kent and Hertfordshire. Look at Essex, Kent and Hertfordshire as well.

Can I take a garage roof to Abbey Road?

Some west London boroughs can book cement-bonded sheets into West London Waste at Abbey Road. Check whether your borough is on their list that day. It is not a London-wide tip.

I rent from the council.

Start with them. They survey their own stock. Do not hire off this list first.

Getting a quote from a London contractor

Ring anyone in the table. Those numbers come straight from the HSE register. Then look at Essex and Kent as well if you are in an outer borough.

If you would rather describe the job and let licensed firms covering London come back to you, use the form. We pass it on. Say the borough and whether it is a garage, a mansion-block cupboard, or insulating board.

Not in London? See the licensed firms covering Crawley and West Sussex, or all areas we cover.