Asbestos management survey
If your building was constructed or last refurbished before 2000, it may contain asbestos in places like ceiling tiles, pipe lagging, floor tiles, textured coatings and behind panelling.
If your building was constructed or last refurbished before 2000, it may contain asbestos in places like ceiling tiles, pipe lagging, floor tiles, textured coatings and behind panelling. A management survey identifies what's there and where, so you can plan a fit-out around it safely — and if you're not sure of the building's age, get the survey rather than guess.
As the person in control of the premises you become the "dutyholder" under asbestos regulations the moment you take occupation, whether you knew about any asbestos or not. Disturbing asbestos-containing materials during fit-out without a survey is a serious HSE enforcement matter and a genuine health risk to your contractors and, later, your staff.
Use a UKAS-accredited surveyor. A refurbishment/demolition survey may be needed instead of a management survey if you're stripping out extensively.
Who this is for
Any venue taking on a building built or refurbished before 2000, including if you genuinely don't know the building's age.
Applies to the non-domestic parts of the building you occupy or are responsible for maintaining, including shared or landlord-controlled areas where you have access.
What you’ll hold
- Asbestos management survey report
- Asbestos register and management plan
Watch out for
- Relying on a previous occupier's old survey without checking it covers the areas you're actually working on, or whether work since then has disturbed anything.
- Letting contractors start strip-out "just to get a look" before the survey report is in hand — that's exactly the disturbance the regulations are designed to prevent.
- Treating the survey as a one-off box-tick rather than keeping the register updated as an ongoing management document for as long as you occupy the building.
Sources
- HSE — The duty to manage asbestos in buildings: overview checked 2026-09-02
- HSE — Asbestos: the hidden killer checked 2026-09-02
See also
- Building warrant / building regulations approval
- Check you have the right planning use class
- Asbestos register re-inspection— this becomes an ongoing job once you’re open →
This is item 4 of 66 in the free UK Launch Checklist. See the whole list →