Asbestos Surveys in Kingston Upon Thames
Most asbestos in Kingston upon Thames stays hidden until someone buys, converts or refurbishes an older property. A survey finds it and writes it down before any work starts, across KT1 and KT2.
What a survey is actually for in Kingston
Kingston upon Thames is built from older stock, and a lot of it has changed hands or been altered over the years. Victorian and Edwardian terraces around Norbiton and Canbury, 1930s semis running out towards Berrylands and the Tudor Estate, big interwar and postwar villas up on Kingston Hill and across Coombe. From the street these houses look fine. The trouble is that you cannot tell what is inside a wall, a ceiling or a boiler cupboard by looking at it.
An asbestos survey settles that. We go through the property, identify the materials that are likely to contain asbestos, and take samples where there is any doubt. The point is not to remove anything on the day. It is to find what is there, record where it sits, and put it in a written report you can act on. A builder, a solicitor or a buyer can then read that report and know what they are dealing with before a single tool comes out.
Graham runs these jobs himself. Clearaway is based in Chessington, KT9, a few minutes down the road, so Kingston is home patch and you are dealing with the person doing the survey, not a name passed around an office.
Management surveys and refurbishment surveys
There are two types, and which one you need comes down to what you are about to do with the building. A management survey is for a property that is staying lived in or in use as it is. It covers the materials you would meet in normal day to day occupation, checks what condition they are in, and tells you whether anything needs watching or dealing with. This is the one a landlord usually wants, and the one that makes sense before you put a house on the market.
A refurbishment and demolition survey is the one to book before building work. New kitchen, loft conversion, knocking a couple of rooms together, splitting a villa into flats, taking a building down. This survey is more intrusive because it has to be. We look behind and underneath, into the parts the works will disturb, so nobody puts a saw or a breaker through asbestos without knowing it was there.
Getting the right survey first time matters. A management survey will not cover you for a strip out, and paying for a full refurbishment survey on a house you are only buying to live in is money you did not need to spend. If you are not sure which fits, tell us what the plan is and we will point you to the right one.
Why Kingston's converted villas and flats need more care
The conversions are where a quick look catches people out. A lot of the larger villas across Coombe and Kingston Hill, and plenty of the town centre properties off Clarence Street and Eden Street, have been split into flats over the decades. The original house was built as one structure, so the same materials can run straight through it. A length of pipe lagging, a textured artex ceiling, a run of asbestos insulating board around an old boiler, none of it stops politely at a flat boundary.
That means one inspection of one flat can miss something sitting in the flat next door, in a shared cellar, or in a common stairwell. The same goes for the older commercial and riverside units down by the Hogsmill, where partitions and services have been changed around over the years. A proper survey treats the building as the whole thing it once was, not as the separate boxes it has been carved into.
The materials themselves are the familiar ones for Kingston's age of housing. Corrugated cement garage and shed roofs. Textured artex on ceilings and walls. AIB around boilers and in conversions. Vinyl and thermoplastic floor tiles laid on a black bitumen adhesive. Pipe lagging in cellars and the older properties. Cement soffits and gutters on the interwar semis around New Malden. None of these are a problem while they are sound and left alone. The risk comes when work disturbs them, which is why you survey first.
The report, and what happens next
Any samples we take go to a UKAS-accredited laboratory for testing, so the result is independent and stands up. You are not relying on someone's opinion on the day. What you get back is a written report that lists each material, where it is in the building, what condition it is in, and whether it contains asbestos. That document is the thing you hand to a builder before they quote, give to a solicitor during a sale, or keep on file as a landlord.
If the survey does turn up asbestos that has to come out, the report tells you that too, and we can talk through what removal would involve. For the higher risk licensed work, that means 14 days notice to the HSE before we start, the area sealed off under full enclosure, and four-stage clearance testing signed off by an independent analyst at the end before the space goes back into use. Plenty of finds, though, are perfectly safe to leave where they are once you know they are there. The survey is what lets you make that call on facts.
Clearaway works under Spectra licence number 142305706 and has been doing this across the area for more than seven years, so the older houses around Kingston hold no surprises. If you are buying, selling, converting or refurbishing anywhere in KT1 or KT2 and want to know what is in the building first, call 0800 024 6168.
Asbestos Soil Fragments Clearance, Chessington
Chessington, Surrey · Soil Clearance
View this project"I used Clearaway Asbestos recently for an asbestos garage removal in my home. The staff were really friendly and professional and put me at ease the whole time they were working. I would recommend Clearaway Asbestos to anyone who needs asbestos removal services!"
Frequently Asked Questions
Our Removal Process
From first call to final certificate, every job follows the same clear four-step process.
Survey
We inspect the property and confirm the material. Sampling available if required.
Quote
Fixed written price covering removal, disposal and any replacement work.
Removal
Material is removed safely, double-wrapped and taken to a licensed disposal facility.
Certificate
You receive a waste consignment note and disposal certificate confirming legal handling.
Why Choose Clearaway
On Our Home Patch
We work out of Chessington, right on the edge of the KT postcodes, so a same-week survey here is the norm, not the exception.
The Owner On The Job
On local work Graham quotes and runs the job himself. You deal with the person doing the work from first call to final certificate.
Fully Licensed
Licensed asbestos removal contractor (Licence No. 142305706). Full public liability insurance on every job.
Our Own Team
We never subcontract. The people who quote your job are the people who do it.
Get in Touch
Send a few details about your project and we will come back the same working day with a fixed price. We cover Surrey, London and the South East, including Esher, Cobham, Kingston, Richmond, Epsom, Guildford, Woking and Croydon.