Why you need a refurbishment survey if your property is undergoing work

An asbestos refurbishment survey is required if your property is undergoing upgrading, refurbishment, or invasive maintenance work. Unless you’re one hundred percent sure that no asbestos is present in the building, you’ll need to hire experienced professionals to undertake this surveying in order to safeguard the health of those undertaking the refurbishment work.

A refurbishment survey aims to locate and identify any asbestos containing materials (ACMs) within the property, and is much more thorough and invasive than a management survey. A management survey locates the ACMs that could be disturbed during the standard use of the property, or light maintenance work, and so is relatively un-intrusive. A refurbishment survey locates ACMs that could be disturbed by substantial work on the property, and so is invasive and destructive to all areas that might pose a threat. Thoroughness is the mark of a proper refurbishment survey.

Work carried out by tradespeople during renovation will involve far greater disturbance to these areas, and so this work requires a more exhaustive surveying. A proper survey will identify ACMs and remove them prior to the refurbishment taking place, making sure that nobody involved in your project puts their health in jeopardy.

Make sure you hire a trusted surveyor. Inhalation of ACMs can produce fatal and debilitating diseases – the importance of eliminating this risk should be paramount. Poor surveying also leads to ACMs being improperly disposed of in landfills, often creating soil contamination issues. Given that the surveying is disruptive and often disturbs ACMs, the property should be vacated while it takes place. A good surveyor can lessen the structural damage to the building.

You should supply a surveyor with a site layout, building plans and specifications, as well as any history of work or asbestos surveying conducted in the building. If only one area of the property is undergoing refurbishment, then only that part needs to be surveyed – on the condition that a management survey has already been undertaken for other areas.

Contact H.I.C.H. LTD today to arrange your refurbishment survey. Our experienced team has the knowledge to confidently ensure the safety of your project, while our highly detailed reports are delivered with a quick turnaround and at an affordable cost.