Asbest

Remove it or manage it — what is the actual choice?

Finding asbestos-containing materials in a building triggers an expensive decision, and the instinct is usually to get rid of it. That instinct is not always right. The hazard from asbestos comes from fibres becoming airborne and being inhaled. Material that is intact, in good condition and not going to be disturbed is not releasing fibres. Removing it, on the other hand, means breaking it — which is precisely the event that releases the fibres everyone is trying to avoid, and is why licensed removal is carried out inside sealed enclosures under negative pressure by trained operatives.

So the two options are not "safe" and "unsafe". They are two different management routes with different risk profiles, costs and consequences. Removal takes the material out of the building permanently and ends the monitoring obligation. Encapsulation leaves it in place, seals it behind a coating so fibres cannot be released, and keeps it on the asbestos register with an ongoing inspection duty. Encapsulation is not a way of forgetting about asbestos — it is a way of managing it that does not involve disturbing it.

Removal remains the right call in defined circumstances: where the material is already damaged or friable, where refurbishment or demolition will disturb it whatever is coated over it, and where the fire strategy or the building's future use makes leaving it in place untenable. Where the material is sound and can stay, encapsulation avoids the enclosure, the downtime, the waste stream and the fibre release that removal itself creates.

What does the regulatory framework require?

Work involving asbestos-containing materials in the UK is governed by the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. We are a manufacturer, not an asbestos consultancy, so what follows describes what our own published guidance sets out — it is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for a survey, a competent surveyor or your own duty holder's assessment.

Our Surface Pro guide sets out the position we work to: applying an encapsulation coating to intact, undisturbed asbestos-containing materials — with no drilling, cutting, grinding or breaking of the material — is classified as non-licensed work under CAR 2012, provided operatives hold Category A UKATA asbestos awareness training as a minimum and a site-specific risk assessment and method statement is prepared and followed before work begins. Appropriate RPE, to FFP3 as a minimum, and PPE must be worn throughout, and the work area must be segregated and controlled.

Three obligations survive the coating and are worth stating plainly. Any waste generated, including the peeled film from a containment coating, is asbestos waste and must be disposed of under the appropriate consignment procedures. Encapsulated material stays on the asbestos register and remains subject to periodic inspection under the duty holder's asbestos management plan. And the starting point is always a current asbestos management or refurbishment and demolition survey — the coating decision is made from the survey, not instead of it.

Higher-risk materials are a separate conversation. For asbestos insulating board, sprayed asbestos insulation or pipe lagging, speak to our technical team and to your licensed surveyor before specifying anything: those materials may require licensed work regardless of what coating is being considered.

Which coating does which job?

Enquire about Surface Pro View the asbestos range

Surface Pro 20 kg is supplied on enquiry rather than sold from the shelf, because the quantity, the application method and the working controls all depend on the survey and the removal programme. Send us the surface type and area through the asbestos encapsulation enquiry form and we will come back with a price and a proposed approach.

How is an encapsulation coating applied?

The sequence for a permanent seal with Soteria starts before anyone opens a tub. Survey and record the material — that is a duty-holder obligation, not a formality — and confirm from the survey that the material is suitable for encapsulation. Prepare access without abrading or disturbing the material itself: this is the step where an encapsulation job turns into a removal job if it is done carelessly. Spray-apply the coating in even passes until the specified film thickness is achieved. Then inspect, document, and add the encapsulated material to the management plan with a re-inspection schedule.

Because Soteria is elastic and crack-bridging, it accommodates movement in the substrate rather than cracking off it — which matters on roof sheets and cladding that expand, contract and flex with temperature and wind load. Because it is UV-resistant and weatherproof, it can be left exposed inside or out; that removes the overcladding that many encapsulants require, and with it a second trade, a second cost and a second set of fixings through the material you were trying not to disturb.

Surface Pro follows a different sequence, because it is doing a different job. Work to the risk assessment and method statement with correctly trained operatives in the correct RPE and PPE. Apply the coating evenly by brush or airless spray with no missed areas or pinholes — a second coat where the surface is heavily textured or porous. Allow it to dry fully to a flexible film and inspect for gaps. Carry out the removal works with the fibres bound down. Then peel the film as a complete sheet within six months, bag it and dispose of it as asbestos waste.

What does encapsulation cost against licensed removal?

The figures below are the indicative bands published in our own Surface Pro guide. They are a guide to order of magnitude for budgeting, not a quotation, and every project turns on the survey, the material, the access and the programme.

The saving is real where the material is sound and encapsulation is an appropriate management option. It is not a saving at all where removal is the correct route — a coating over material that is about to be demolished buys nothing.

Where is it used?

The buildings that come to us are the ones where asbestos and occupation overlap. Industrial and commercial roofing where asbestos cement sheets are still watertight and doing their job. Insulated pipework and cladding in plant rooms. Schools and estates portfolios working through a management plan a building at a time. Healthcare and NHS estates that cannot be evacuated. Housing associations, industrial and commercial landlords, and main contractors picking up a refurbishment where a survey has turned something up mid-programme.

Containment with Surface Pro tends to appear at a specific moment: ahead of a strip-out to bind fibres before demolition works start; as emergency containment where material has been accidentally damaged and needs holding pending a licensed removal programme; between phases where removal is being done in stages; and in occupied buildings where a solvent-free, low-odour product is the only thing that can be used without clearing the building.

See it on site

Look at completed applications before specifying. The 360° tours let you walk projects where our coatings are in place, and the video channel shows spray application and finish.

360° site tours Application videos

Further reading: asbestos encapsulation — when sealing beats removal · encapsulating asbestos: a safer alternative to removal · containing asbestos during removal with a peelable coating · the full Surface Pro technical guide.

Frequently asked questions