Found asbestos in a Wigan home? Start here

Wigan was built on coal and cotton. The housing those industries left behind is where most asbestos shows up today. The terraces in Scholes, Ince and Pemberton tend to hold the lower risk materials, textured coatings and old floor tiles added during later work. The post war estates at Worsley Mesnes, Marsh Green and Beech Hill are where the higher risk materials appear, because insulating board and pipe lagging were standard when they were built. What decides whether you legally need a licensed firm is the material itself, not the age of the house.

Every HSE licensed asbestos contractor covering Greater Manchester

There are seven firms holding a licence with a Greater Manchester address. The trade association directory that most people find first only lists the ones that pay for membership, so it comes out shorter. This is the full licensed set, straight from the register.

Every firm on this list holds a standard licence, which is the type that covers removal work.

Two things about the Greater Manchester list worth knowing

• None of them are based in Wigan itself. The nearest sits at Bolton, and the rest work out of Manchester, Salford and Ashton-under-Lyne. The address in the table is where the office is, not how far the firm will travel, and Bolton to Wigan is a short run.
• Seven firms cover the whole of Greater Manchester. That is not many for a county this size, so expect to wait for the better ones, and expect firms from Lancashire and Merseyside to quote for Wigan work too. A wider field often gets you a keener price.

Getting rid of asbestos in Wigan

Wigan runs its own tip arrangements. Only one site takes asbestos, and that is Kirkless Recycling Centre. You cannot just turn up with it. Asbestos loads have to be booked in first with the council’s waste contractor on 01942 825755, and they will tell you how it needs to be wrapped or bagged before you arrive. The one rule to hold on to is that you must not break up the sheets, because that is what releases the fibres.

Anything a contractor has already removed cannot go to Kirkless. Removed material counts as business waste, so the firm that takes it out disposes of it.

The North West and the mesothelioma figures

Wigan’s pits, mills and engineering works used asbestos for lagging, insulation and fire protection, and the men who worked around it are the generation appearing in the figures now. Mesothelioma can take decades to show, so a rate measured today reflects work done in the 1960s and 70s.

The North West records 54.6 asbestos related mesothelioma deaths per million men, close to the Great Britain figure of 55.9. Figures from the HSE’s mesothelioma statistics for Great Britain.

What asbestos removal in Wigan is likely to cost

Wigan sits below the London and South East labour rates, so expect prices under those figures. Where the town adds cost is access. Terraced rows with no rear vehicle access, and the older flats, all add time, and time is what you are paying for. For the wider picture, see what asbestos removal costs across the UK, and where the published price guides disagree.

Asbestos removal in Wigan: questions people ask

Will the council remove asbestos from my house?

No. Wigan Council does not remove asbestos for homeowners. It does take small amounts of household asbestos at one tip, by booking only, which is covered above.

Can I take asbestos to the tip in Wigan?

Yes, at Kirkless Recycling Centre only, and only if you book it in first on 01942 825755. Do not break the sheets, and a contractor’s waste cannot go there.

Do I always need a licensed contractor?

Not for every material. The law treats some lower risk asbestos cement as non-licensed work, while insulating board, pipe lagging and sprayed coatings must go to a firm holding a standard licence. The safe move is to have the material identified by a lab first, so you know which rules apply before anyone touches it. See our guide to what an asbestos survey costs.

How many licensed contractors are near me?

7 hold a current licence with a Greater Manchester address. Firms based in Lancashire and Merseyside also work across Wigan, so your real choice is wider than the table.

Getting a quote from a Wigan contractor

The firms above quote for this work routinely, and so do firms in the neighbouring counties. To widen the field, see the licensed contractors covering Greater Manchester.

Not in Wigan? See every area we cover.