What a management survey is for
Asbestos was widely used in British buildings until it was banned outright in 1999, so most buildings built or refurbished before 2000 can contain it somewhere. Under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, whoever is responsible for maintaining a non-domestic building, or the shared parts of a block of flats, has a legal duty to manage asbestos. That starts with finding out whether it is there, and a management survey is how most duty holders do it.
The survey method is set out in the HSE guide HSG264, Asbestos: The Survey Guide. The aim is practical rather than exhaustive: to find the materials that people could realistically disturb while using the building day to day, and to say how risky each one is.
In Greater Manchester this survey is most often booked for converted mills and warehouses in the city centre and Ancoats, multi-let offices in M1, and managing-agent registers for blocks of flats in Salford and Trafford.
What happens on the day
The surveyor inspects the accessible parts of the building, including rooms, ceiling voids where they can be reached, lofts, plant rooms, stores, risers and external structures such as roofs, soffits, canopies and outbuildings. Suspect materials are photographed and, where it is safe to do so, small samples are taken for analysis in a laboratory. Where a material cannot be sampled safely, it can be presumed to contain asbestos until proved otherwise.
Each material is then assessed for its type, its condition and how likely it is to be disturbed, which produces a risk score and a recommended action. The inspection is minimally intrusive: the surveyor will lift ceiling tiles and open access panels, but will not break into walls or floors. That is the job of a refurbishment and demolition survey instead.
What you receive
The result is a written report that includes an asbestos register listing every material found or presumed, with its location, extent, photograph and risk rating, plus a plan marking where samples were taken and any areas that could not be accessed. The register is the working document of your asbestos management plan. It is what you hand to contractors before they start work, and what an inspector would ask to see.
If a material is in poor condition or sits somewhere it will keep being disturbed, the report will say so. Many materials can safely be left in place, labelled and monitored. Where something does need to come out, we can connect you with licensed removal contractors as the next step, but the survey comes first and removal is never assumed.
When a management survey is not enough
A management survey is not suitable before building work that disturbs the structure, such as strip-out, extensions, knocking through walls or taking up floors. For that you need a refurbishment and demolition survey, which is more intrusive and covers the area being worked on. If you are not sure which one you need, say so on the enquiry form and the surveyor will advise.
