Emergency Asbestos Find Creates a Big Challenge

The site:

An industrial warehouse unit on a trading estate in Enfield, London

The challenge:

Oracles client was undertaking a planned refurbishment project to an industrial unit in Enfield. During the refurbishment project, unidentified asbestos materials were uncovered. As the unit was due to soon be reoccupied, the asbestos material needed to be removed as quickly as possible, making this a very time-sensitive job.

Oracle was called in to conduct a site-specific asbestos sampling survey to identify any potential asbestos-containing materials. Once the results had been received and confirmed, a site visit was carried out by Oracle’s asbestos removal department. Following a meeting with the client, Oracle put forward a plan to remove the asbestos so that the unit handover deadline could be met.

The main challenge was that the area in question was situated at a high level within the main warehouse. For this reason, fixed scaffolding was required to provide a safe working platform for the asbestos removal team to work. Asbestos removal is very hazardous at the best of times, but adding in an additional risk factor such as working at height takes the asbestos removal complexity to another level!

What did we do:

Before the scaffolding could be erected, Oracle had to ensure the asbestos work area was safe so that the project could get underway. The scaffolder was then able to build the access platform so the asbestos removal team could start their work and remove the material under fully controlled conditions.

The result:

The asbestos was removed safely, within the timescales provided and within budget. This enabled the planned refurbishment to continue as intended.

Thanks to the reactive nature of the Oracle team, we were able to deliver a great project and keep a great client very happy!