Survey Types over Life of Property

The type of survey carried out will vary during the lifespan of the premises and several may be needed over time:

• A management survey will be required during the normal occupation and the use of the building to ensure continued management of the Asbestos Containing Materials (ACMs) in situ.
• A refurbishment or demolition survey will be necessary when the building (or part of it) is to be upgraded, refurbished or demolished.

It is possible that at larger premises a mixture of surveys will be appropriate, e.g. a boiler house due for demolition will require a refurbishment/demolition survey, whiles offices at the same site would have a management survey. In later years refurbishment surveys may be required in rooms or floors that are being upgraded. And finally a full demolition survey would be required prior to demolition of the property.

Management Surveys

A management survey is the standard survey, its purpose is to locate, as far as reasonably practicable, the presence and extent of any suspect ACM’s in the building which could be damaged or disturbed during normal occupancy, including foreseeable maintenance and installation and to assess their condition. Management surveys will often involve minor intrusive work and some disturbance. The extent of intrusion will vary between premises and depend on what is reasonably practicable for individual properties, i.e. It will depend on factors such as the type of building, the nature of construction, accessibility etc.

A management survey includes an assessment of the condition of the various ACMs and their ability to release fibres into the air if they are disturbed in some way. This material assessment will give a good initial guide to the priority for managing ACMs as it will identify the materials that will most readily release airborne fibres if they are disturbed.

A management survey will usually involve sampling and analysis to confirm the presence or absence of ACMs. However a management survey can be completed using a combination of sampling ACMs and presuming ACMs or, indeed just presuming.

Refurbishment and Demolition Surveys

A refurbishment and demolition survey is needed before any refurbishment or demolition work is carried out. This type of survey is used to locate and describe, as far as reasonably practicable, all ACMs in the area where the refurbishment work will take place or in the whole building if demolition is planned. The survey will be fully intrusive and involve destructive inspection, as necessary, to gain access to all areas, including those that may be difficult to reach. A refurbishment and demolition survey may also be required in other circumstances, e.g. when more intrusive maintenance and repair work will be carried out or for plant removal or dismantling.

Refurbishment and demolition surveys are intended to locate all the asbestos in the building (or the relevant part), as far as reasonably practicable. It is a disruptive and fully intrusive survey which may need to penetrate all parts of the building structure. Aggressive inspection techniques will be needed to lift carpets and tiles, break through walls, ceilings, cladding and partitions, and open up floors.