Asbestos Removal in Preston and Lancashire

Found asbestos in Preston? Do this before you ring anyone

Preston has a lot of housing built or extended between the 1950s and the mid 1980s, which is exactly the window when asbestos cement was standard for garage roofs, outhouses, soffits and rainwater goods. Add the terraced stock across Deepdale, Ashton and Ribbleton, much of it modernised in that period, and the material turns up constantly. Common does not mean harmless, but it does mean this is a routine job for the firms below rather than an emergency.

Every HSE licensed asbestos contractor covering Lancashire

There are nineteen firms holding a licence here, which is the second largest county total in the country after Essex. That works in your favour when you are getting quotes, because you have genuine choice rather than one firm covering half the county.

16 of the 19 hold a standard licence, and that is the type that covers removal. Two firms here hold a scaffolding licence, not a removal one: Bate Scaffolding Services Limited in Wigan and Bury Scaffolding Services (Manchester) Ltd in Bury. 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. One firm here holds a maintenance licence rather than a standard one: Complete Technology Ltd in Heywood. A maintenance licence is narrower, covering short duration maintenance rather than full removal, so ask directly whether your job falls inside it.

Two things on the Lancashire list worth knowing

• An address in Lancashire is not the same as coverage of Lancashire. A firm based in Burnley may not want a small job in Lytham. Ask before you get your hopes up on a price.

How to check a Lancashire firm’s licence

Ask for the licence number before anything is agreed, then match it to the row in the table above and look at the expiry date while you are there. Removal needs the standard type; scaffolding and maintenance licences do not cover it. Get the number written onto the quote, because a firm that will not put it in writing is telling you something.

Getting rid of small amounts in Preston

Lancashire County Council takes asbestos at its recycling centres, including the Preston site, and the rules are stricter than most people expect. Only cement bonded asbestos is accepted. Fibrous asbestos has to go to a registered contractor and cannot be taken to a tip at all.

The limits are what catch people out: six sheets or bags per visit, and eighteen sheets or bags per year. Larger pieces have to be wrapped in heavy duty polythene, and smaller pieces double bagged and sealed. The centres hand out wrapping materials free, in limited quantities, if you collect them first.

Worth knowing that Lancashire specifically asks for Artex to go in the asbestos skip rather than general waste. And if your job runs past eighteen bags in a year, which a single garage roof easily can, the tip route stops being an option and a contractor becomes the cheaper answer anyway once you count the trips.

Where the North West sits on mesothelioma

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

Lancashire’s exposure came through cotton mills, engineering works and the building trades that fitted them out. Mesothelioma takes decades to appear, so a figure measured today reflects work done in the 1960s and 1970s.

The group most at risk has changed. The HSE says it is now people who worked in construction while asbestos was still in use, carpenters, plumbers and electricians. In a town with a lot of pre-1980s housing that means the risk today is somebody cutting into something without checking what it is.

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

What asbestos removal in Preston is likely to cost

Labour rates in Preston sit around the national middle, so expect prices below the London and South East figures and broadly in line with the rest of the North West. Where a Lancashire job gets expensive is access: terraced streets with no rear vehicle access, or a garage roof that can only be reached over next door’s garden, will add to the day.

Asbestos removal in Preston: questions people ask

Can I take asbestos to the tip myself in Preston?

Yes, within limits. Cement bonded asbestos only, six sheets or bags a visit, eighteen a year, properly wrapped. Anything fibrous has to go to a contractor.

How long does a garage roof take?

Most are a single day, including the waste going away. If a firm wants to book three days for a standard single garage, ask what they have seen that you have not.

Does my house insurance cover it?

Generally not for planned removal. Some policies contribute where asbestos is damaged by an insured event, storm damage to a garage roof being the usual example. Worth a phone call before you pay.

How many licensed contractors are near me?

19 hold a current licence with a Lancashire address, spread across the county rather than clustered in one town. Most will travel across Lancashire for a job of reasonable size.

Getting a quote from a Preston contractor

Not in Preston? See every area we cover.