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A survey is a snapshot. Management is the part that keeps you compliant.
The gap most people miss
Most people come to us for a survey, get the report, file it, and assume the job is done.
It usually isn't. A survey tells you what asbestos is in your building on the day someone walked round it and able to safely access. Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 asks for something ongoing: that you know what's there, know what condition it's in, have a written plan for managing it, and keep that plan current as things change
That's the difference between having a survey and managing asbestos. One is a document. The other is a duty, and it doesn't expire.
It might be you even if you don't own the building
Who holds the duty
Regulation 4 applies to non-domestic premises, and the duty sits with whoever is responsible for maintenance and repair.
Building Owners
Where there's no tenant, or where the lease keeps repairing obligations with the landlord.
Tenants and Leaseholders
Where the lease transfers repair to them, worth checking becuase plenty of duty holders don't realise they've taken this on.
Managing agents
Acting on behalf of a freeholder across one building or a whole portfolio.
Employers
Occupying premises where they control the fabric and the maintenance regime.
The common parts of domestic buildings count as non-domestic. Blocks of flats, HMOs, shared entrances, stairwells, plant rooms, roof spaces, boiler cupboards. The flats themselves fall outside Regulation 4; everything shared falls squarely inside it.
Two things that catch people out
The duty can sit in more than one place at once. Where responsibility is split — a landlord holding the structure, a tenant holding the interior — both parties have a duty over their part, and Regulation 4 expects them to cooperate. Assuming the other side has it covered is a common and expensive mistake.
If you're unsure, give us a call today.
Seven things, in order
what the regulation requires
The regulation is short, but specific in what it asks for.
Find out whats there
Take reasonable steps to determine whether asbestos-containing materials are present and in what condition. Where you can't rule it out, presume it's asbestos until proven otherwise.
Record it
Location type, extent and condition of every identified and presumed material. That record is your asbestos register.
Assess the risk
Not just what the material is, but how likely it is to be disturbed and who would be exposed if it were.
Write a plan
A written management plan setting out how the risk from each material will be managed, by whom, and on what timescale.
Act on it
A plan in a file isn't a plan. The actions have to actually happen.
Review it
Keep it current as building use changes, as works happen, and as material conditions change.
Tell people
Anyone liable to disturb the material; maintenance staff, contractors, an engineer turning up to service a boiler. They all need to review the management plan before they start work.
That last point is where most enforcement action begins. A contractor drills into asbestos insulating board nobody warned them about, and the question that follows is what information the duty holder provided beforehand.
Two scores, not one
How we assess risk
A material can be in poor condition and low priority because nobody goes near it. Another can be in good condition and high priority because it's boxing in a boiler that gets serviced twice a year. You need both numbers to know what to deal with first.
Material assessment
How readily the material would release fibres if disturbed.
Product type
Extent of any damage
Surface treatment
Asbestos type
Priority assessment
How likely it is to be disturbed in practice.
Normal occupant activity
Accessibility of the material
Number of people nearby
Maintenance activity in the area
Combined, they turn a register from a list into a plan — and the priority score is the part most cheaply-produced registers skip. We do both as standard. If you've inherited a register that only scores materials, that's worth knowing about.
The whole duty, covered
what we provide
Asbestos register creation
From an existing survey, or from a new management survey where you haven't got one.
Written management plan
The document Regulation 4 asks for, Actions, owners, timescales, and clear instructions for anyone working on the building.
Material & priority assessments
Both scores for every material, so your priorities are defensible rather than assumed.
Portfolio management
One methodology, one format and one contact across multiple sites. Volume rates, and scheduling built around your programme. See our coverage.
Re-inspection programmes
Condition monitoring at appropriate intervals, with the register updated in place rather than reissued separately.
Plan reviews
Inherited a plan you don't trust or is outdated? We'll tell you what's missing. Plenty of what gets sold as a management plan is a register with a cover sheet.
Three routes in
Getting started
Depending on where you're at right now.
Survey, but no plan
Send us the report. We'll produce the register and plan from it, and tell you honestly if the survey isn't detailed enough to work from.
No survey yet
Start with a management survey — from £125+VAT — and we'll build the register, risk assessments and plan from it.
Plan you don't trust
Inherited something from a previous managing agent or contractor? We'll review it and tell you what's missing.
Cambridge based · Nationwide coverage · enquiries@enviongroup.co.uk
Talk to us
Not sure whether the duty is yours?
No hard sell, just honest advice from people who know their stuff. We respond to all enquiries within 4 hours on working days.
Independent asbestos consultants. BOHS qualified surveyors. Based in Cambridge — serving homeowners, landlords and commercial clients across the UK with clarity, speed and genuine expertise.
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