
Asbestos encapsulation and removal at Hawick Town Hall
Our long-term client, the Scottish Borders Council, recently appointed the Henderson Environmental team to conduct an asbestos removal service on an out-of-service lift at Hawick Town Hall.
The lift was lined with asbestos insulating board (AIB) which needed to be removed before the planned refurbishment work could take place.
There were two main aspects to this job. The initial step in the process was to complete asbestos encapsulation. Asbestos encapsulation is the technique of covering or containing asbestos containing materials (ACMs) in order to prevent the release of harmful fibres into the air.
The technique forms a barrier that seals off the fibres and keeps them from becoming airborne, in turn lowering the possibility of asbestos exposure which can lead to life-threatening diseases such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, pleural thickening or lung cancer.
Our team needed to encapsulate the lift shaft with a specific asbestos sealant so that the lift contractors could safely conduct maintenance work on the lift without being exposed to asbestos.
A fully licensed scaffolding company then erected a scaffold within the lift shaft, allowing us to proceed with the necessary asbestos removal. We liaised with the appointed UKAS accredited analytical company whose analysts carried out background monitoring and personal monitoring throughout to monitor the level of asbestos fibres in the air during the works.
As the town hall remained occupied at this time, our team installed buffer zones to ensure that the building occupants were safe during the removal process.
Following the safe removal and correct disposal of the asbestos insulating board, our client could commence the refurbishment works.