Since 2005, we have extended our portfolio of services into the complementary field of land remediation - backed as always by single-point responsibility and turnkey project contracting. This means that, in addition to our construction services and the asbestos removal and disposal services for which we have a national reputation, we can now offer a complete cycle of services centred on the clean up of contaminated areas and its transformation into land suitable for re-use.
Asbestos Decontamination and Removal.
Managing hazardous material is a serious responsibility – and in the light of the Control of Asbestos at Work 2006 regulations, the legal implications of ignoring the problem do not bear considering. Because asbestos is likely to be present in any building constructed or refurbished between 1950 and 1980. All employers and owners or tenants of commercial property need to be aware of their obligations and of what to do if and when the issue of asbestos decontamination and asbestos removal affects them.
Drawing on over 20 years of experience of asbestos decontamination and management in many different contexts and environments, Caswell Environmental Services Ltd can guide you through the current legal requirements and take care of any abatement work from investigative work to encapsulation, removal, decontamination and disposal.
We handle complex fast-track projects – often in security-sensitive environments - with speed, flexibility and acute attention to quality control and health and safety requirements. We work with clients to minimise disruption and achieve speedy completion through appropriately timed and scheduled work patterns. It is also company policy to establish offices at key sites for the duration of major projects.
With bases across England and Wales and over 200 staff, we offer full national coverage. We manage all aspects of the asbestos decontamination process using only our own exceptionally qualified and highly trained personnel, all of whom are directly employed rather than sub-contractors.
We are constantly updating the equipment we use to make the most of the latest technology and operate our own licensed Waste Transfer facility.
By trusting your requirements to us you will draw on a highly trained, knowledgeable and multi-disciplined team who are dedicated to achieving the best possible standards of safety and quality within a realistic budget.
Asbestos Decontamination | Asbestos Removal
Our experience covers all aspects of the brownfield remediation process, from initial site investigation through to the controlled transfer of contaminated waste at our own facilities, together with the demolition and clearing of land in which our construction and remdiation arms have long since specialised. From engineering solutions devised to tackle the challenges of specific sites to the physical groundwork necessary to transform a designated area, we provide a complete in-the-round service.
Using Caswell as your service provider will assure you of continuity between each stage of the remediation process, so avoiding costly delays as new contractors come on board. It will enable all the various phases to be planned and timetabled in an integrated rather than piecemeal way - and make your own management and budgeting of those phases simpler to handle and easier to control. We will also guide you through your legal obligations regarding decontamination and conversion of brownfield sites and ensure that they are met at all times - including dealing directly with the relevant regulatory bodies (including local councils) on your behalf.
All remediation programmes differ in size, scope and content. Because no single set of solutions will fit every scheme, we will work with you to tailor our services to the needs of your project and the demands of the site(s).
Our specific services include:
Survey TypesThe type of survey that is chosen may vary depending on the aim and purpose for which it is to be used. Surveys prior to demolition or major refurbishment will require a Type III Full Access Sampling & Identification Survey, however most surveys will be selected to comply with the current regulations to manage asbestos in the premises. In these cases the aim of an asbestos survey is to locate and assess all the ACMs in the building as far as reasonably practical, and its purpose is to present all the information collected in a way to manage the risks. Therefore the aim, purpose and type of survey required should be clearly established with the client before any works are carried out. Once this has been carried out a management plan can be put into effect.
Type I: Location and Assessment Survey (Presumptive Surveys)
An experienced well-trained surveyor familiar with the full range of asbestos products can usually by inspection alone, say that the material can be "presumed" to contain asbestos. This survey essentially defers the need to sample and analyse for asbestos (or the absence thereof) until a later time. All areas must be accessed and inspected, material suspected and or expected to contain asbestos must be presumed to contain asbestos, and where it appears highly likely to contain asbestos, there should be a strong presumption that it does. All materials that are presumed to contain asbestos must be assessed to determine the relevant risk that they present or what may occur.
Type 2: Standard Sampling Identification and Assessment Survey (Sampling Survey)
The purpose and procedures used in this survey are the same as type one, except that samples are to be gathered and analysed for the presence of asbestos. Samples from each type of suspected ACMs found, are collected, and analysed to confirm/refute the surveyors judgment, if the material sampled is found to contain asbestos, then other homogeneous materials used in the same way in the building can be strongly presumed to contain asbestos. Other less homogeneous materials and some materials which are non-asbestos will need to be sampled more frequently to confirm weather asbestos is present or not. Sampling may take place simultaneously with the survey, or as in the case of larger surveys can be carried out as a separate exercise, after the type 1 survey is completed.
Type 3: Full Access Sampling Identification Survey (Demolition/Refurbishment Surveys)
This type of survey is used to locate and describe, as far as it is practicable, all ACMs in the building and may involve some destructive inspection, (as far as it is necessary), to gain access to all areas in the building, some may be difficult to reach or are hidden from sight. A full sampling program is undertaken to identify possibly ACMs and estimates of the volume and surface area of ACMs. This survey has been designed for use as a basis for tendering the removal of all ACMs from the building prior to demolition or major refurbishment. Although a material and priority assessment is not required. It is CES policy to provide an assessment should works be delayed and or the building(s) remain occupied.
Caswell has been short listed for two awards at one of the construction industry’s most prestigious awards nights – the Construction News Specialists Awards, to be held at the Hilton Hotel, Park Lane, London on 7th May 2008.
The awards in question are for Specialist Contractor of the Year 2008 in both the Business Growth and Asbestos Removal Categories.
Now in their fourth year, the Specialists Awards are organised by top industry publication Construction News to acknowledge the critical role played by specialist contractors of all sizes and types in construction projects of all kinds. Making the short list is an achievement in itself and a recognition of both the commercial progress that Caswell has made and its burgeoning reputation and status within the industry during the past year.
As Lee Caswell, Marketing Director of The Caswell Group, comments, ‘the competition is serious and the judging criteria are always rigorous. However, we have now proved ourselves to be real innovators within the construction industry and we will have all our fingers crossed for May’.
Caswell Environmental Services Ltd has played an important part in facilitating the expansion of a major retailer, which has been acquiring and refurbishing premises in many of Britain’s key retail localities since the late 1990s. They have now consolidated its status as one of the UK’s major high street retailers with the purchase of 120 stores, 40 of which are currently undergoing conversion.
Caswell’s association with the retailer began with projects at premises in Newport, Sunderland, Hemel Hempstead and Boscombe. Caswell have been contracted to provide asbestos abatement and strip out services as part of the refurbishment stores at locations including Croydon, Maidstone, Swindon, Swansea, Doncaster and Hanley. The total value of the contracts is in excess of £4m, ranging from £350,000 to £600,000 in value at any one time.
Caswell’s involvement with scheme resulted from the company’s past experience with the client and from a successful competitive tender, consequent to which the company was able to negotiate participation in further store refurbishment schemes.
Although the work has varied from premises to premises – enabling Caswell teams to demonstrate their adaptability, flexibility and problem-solving ability – common features of each of the projects have included excavation of contaminants and removal of asbestos from ceilings, pipe work, ductwork, diesel tanks and boilers; soft stripping the original premises back to shell (sometimes requiring the opening up floors and removing waste via boxed chutes) and the removal of lifts, escalators and partitions as necessary.
The Caswell Group’s portfolio includes the conversion of former church buildings at 45 Kenton Road, London E9, into five discrete dwellings – a house and four flats – at a contract value of £500,000. The client was the Hackney-based St. John, Hackney, Joint Estates Charity, whose presence in the local area dates back to 1898.
Acting on behalf of the same client, the company has also completed a £860,000 refurbishment of six flats, including the installation of a new floor.
Consultation and discussion documents are issued by the Health and Safety Executive and other government agencies to gain the opinion of stakeholders on proposals for new policy or legislation, or for amendments to current legislation and Approved Codes of Practice. For all current and closed HSE/HSC consultative documents, see the HSE's web page at www.hse.gov.uk/consult/index.htm.
Leading asbestos removal contractor, Caswell Group today they announced their support for the Daily Mirror's ‘asbestos timebomb' campaign and warned UK schools not to leave it too late to plan this summer's asbestos removal works.
The Caswell Group are reminding local authorities and schools that now is the time to plan out all asbestos removal works for the summer break. It comes at a time when campaigners and experts are estimating that 90% of UK schools contain asbestos. According to the Daily Mirror, between 1980 and 2005, 178 teachers died from mesothelioma, the lung disease caused by inhaling asbestos dust - and worryingly the number is rising.
Lee Caswell, Marketing Director explains:
"We know this a daunting subject for Headteachers and we are here to help. We have a proven track record and considerable experience in removing asbestos from UK schools. We work closely with our clients and tailor each solution precisely to their needs".
He went on to say:
"We provide a high quality, cost effective and efficient service. Any school who would like us to undertake a free (no-obligation) Audit/Review of their existing Asbestos Register should call our hotline on 01438 312 504".
The Caswell group specialise in Local Authority work and particular experience in asbestos removal projects in UK Schools. They have recently worked on the following schools projects: Penrhys Infant & Community Centre in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Charter School, Dulwich, Hertfordshire County Council (County -wide schools emergency response), Caswell Group are also involved in a number of Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme's with Bouygues UK, which involve the demolition and refurbishment of schools across UK local authorities including St Paul's Way Community School, London Borough of Tower Hamlets and Bethnal Green Technology College.
The Caswell client-base boasts a number of high profile establishments from government bodies to private sector SME's. Recent contracts include: £5,000,000 asbestos removal project at Lots Road Power Station, Chelsea; £1,100,000 asbestos removal project at West Burton Power Station for National Grid;£3,600,000 remediation project at Former Gas Works; £3,200,000 asbestos removal project at Savoy Hotel for Fairmont Hotels.
Leading asbestos removal contractor, Caswell Group are proud to announce they have been shortlisted for the SME Contractor category at the CJ Awards (Hard Hat Awards).
The SME Contractor of the year category it is open to general contractors that have fewer than 250 staff and a turnover of less than £50m in 2008. Evidence of successful business performance and particular examples of management skills during 2008 will be judged at this year's awards. The Awards Ceremony will take place at The Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on 24th September.
Lee Caswell, Marketing Director said: "To have the Caswell Group shortlisted for such a prestigious award is testament to the stringent quality procedures and high calibre team working that underpins the entire company."
Caswell Group provides asbestos removal services, asbestos disposal, soft strip demolition and asbestos surveys and has a dynamic management structure and a highly trained workforce, many of whom have been with the company since its launch in the early 1980s. They are full members of ARCA, ACAD, Safe Contractor, Verify, Link-Up, UVDB, SAAS, CHAS and Sinclair. The Caswell Group is ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 140001 accredited and is a Department of the Environment's ConstructionLine-listed contractor approved for single projects up to the value of £2.5M. The Caswell Group also supply in-situ asbestos encapsulation treatments, complementary reinstatement works, specialist laboratory decontamination and chemical disposal, land remediation, refurbishment and new build services.
Full information can be found at http://www.caswell-group.co.uk/ and at Construction Industry Awards 09.
Your Questions Answered…
This information section of our site is designed to answer any general questions you may have about asbestos, its dangers and what is involved in removing it. If you have a question which is not covered here, please e-mail us using the contact form provided.
What is asbestos?
Asbestos is a mineral which has been mined over the years because of its heat-resistant properties and high tensile strength. There are three principal types of asbestos - chrysotile or white asbestos (the most commonly used type), crocidolite or blue asbestos (often used in sprayed form as insulation), and amosite or brown asbestos (often used in pipe lagging). Crocidolite is generally regarded as the most dangerous of the three. Asbestos is a flexible and durable fibre which can be incorporated into fabrics and different building materials. In some ways, its versatility and cheapness proved its downfall as a material used in construction: it came to be used in applications where its properties were not strictly needed. When its dangers began to be understood, it had already been widely applied.
Why is asbestos so dangerous?
Asbestos was widely used as a heat-resistant building material and an electrical insulator from the 1950s onwards but its dangers were not fully appreciated until the mid-1970s, when asbestosis became recognised as a medical condition. The dust particles in asbestos - which are made up of needle-like crystals - work their way across the lung tissue and may pierce the lung to scrape against the chest wall, causing inflammation of the outer lung lining and inside of the lung. Asbestosis can result from minor exposure, for example stripping of old pipe lagging, going back some years. Additionally, exposure to asbestos dust increases greatly the chances of developing lung cancer. Increasing acknowledgment of the dangers of asbestos led to severe curbing of its use in construction and refurbishment from the 1980s onwards, and latterly to strict controls on its removal and disposal. Currently around 1.5 million commercial buildings in the UK are believed to contain asbestos materials, quite apart from public buildings such as hospitals or schools.
What materials or appliances are likely to contain asbestos?
This is not an exhaustive list, but these are among the most common sprayed insulation; bitumen felts; mastics & sealants; reinforced plastics; ropes, cloth & yarn; : cement products; floor tiles; textured coatings; paper; insulation boards; pipe & boiler lagging. Older domestic appliances such as washing machines, cookers and hair dryers may also contain asbestos, together with fire blankets and ironing boards.
What are the legal obligations on me as a building owner regarding asbestos?
Removing asbestos from all buildings is impractical and unnecessary, and the legislation recognises this. Instead, there is an obligation on the owner or landlord to survey the buildings for which he has responsibility. The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 (CAW 2002) gives specific guidance on who the duty holder is for buildings and how asbestos should be managed. A major priority of the legislation is to prevent the potential accidental contamination of maintenance workers through lack of information. Briefly, the duty holder needs to find out if, where and in what quantities and condition asbestos materials are present within the building. A written plan must then be prepared detailing how the asbestos materials will be managed, which should be implemented, reviewed and updated on a regular basis. All those that need to know - employees, contractors and emergency services - should be informed of the plan. Caswell Environmental Services can help guide you through your obligations and recommend cost-effective action to ensure that you stay within the law and maintain a safe site.
What should we do if we suspect asbestos has been used in premises we wish to modify or demolish?
The first step is to request a full survey from a qualified specialist such as Caswell Environmental Services. We can advise you on all aspects of the process. The regulatory authorities recognise three types of surveys. A Presumptive Survey involves registering and monitoring the location of asbestos materials within a building but no sampling. A Standard Sampling samples and identifies materials through analysis and is the recognised first step in developing an asbestos management plan. A Pre-Demolition or Major Refurbishment Survey is a full access survey of all materials within the building. This must be undertaken prior to destructive work to prevent the uncontrolled spread of asbestos materials. MDHS 100, which is published by the Health & Safety Executive, describes the types of survey that can be undertaken.
What is involved in asbestos removal?
Asbestos removal is necessarily one of the most highly legislated services in the UK and an extremely specialised and skilled occupation. Asbestos removal should be carried out only by companies which are licensed and fully qualified to do so. There are penalties if you, as a building owner or landlord, fail to appoint an organisation with the compulsory credentials.
Click on the icon below to download a pdf detailing The Caswell Group’s approach to partnership working.
subcontractor_questionnaire_cdm_2007.pdf<@>Sub-contractor PQQ<@>
Stevenage - Asbestos Operatives, South East, £Excelllent Package
We are currently recruiting suitably qualified and experienced Asbestos Removal Operatives. We are happy to receive applications and cv's by email.
Please forward to your C.V to a.hughes@caswell-group.co.uk
Stevenage - Asbestos Supervisors, South East, £Excelllent Package
We are currently recruiting suitably qualified and experienced Asbestos Removal Supervisors. We are happy to receive applications and cv's by email.
Please forward to your C.V to a.hughes@caswell-group.co.uk
Asbestos Surveyors
We are currently recruiting qualified surveyors (P402 minimum) in the Hertfordshire area. Full driving licence essential. We are happy to receive applications and CV's by e-mail.
Please forward your CV to p.caswell@caswell-group.co.uk
contact text
Please complete the form below and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you.
The Caswell Group is one of the UK's leading providers of asbestos removal, decontamination, remediation and construction services. For over two decades, ours has been a name trusted by local authorities, hospital trusts, major construction companies, Government bodies and high-profile commercial organisations. The company’s knowledge and experience of asbestos abatement and the regulatory framework that governs it is simply second to none.
Providing the core of our services is a highly trained, knowledgeable and multi-disciplined team working from three UK offices. We bring to all projects not only technical excellence and unrivalled experience of our field but real problem-solving ability, strong client liaison and first-class project management skills backed by an emergency call out service available 24 hours a day.
The Caswell Group have executed contracts with many public and private sector clients including the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), National Grid Electricity Transmission plc, BAE Systems, Pfizer, Jarvis Hotels, Queens Moat Hotels, GE Healthcare, British Telecom, Petroplus, the Defence Storage and Distribution Agency (DSDA), British Petroleum and English Partnerships.
The company has extensive experience in providing asbestos decontamination and removal for Local Authorities notably Vale Housing, Paradigm Housing Association, North Hertfordshire Homes, Neath and Port Talbot County Borough Council, Swindon Council and Pembroke County Council, together with traditional asbestos removal projects for many retail organisations including Primark, Arcadia Group, Goldsmiths, MVC, Carphone Warehouse, Oasis, Thresher, Victoria Wine and the Woolworths Group plc.
The regularity with which the company has been awarded such contracts underlines our ability to consistently deliver a specialised service to the highest standard, to time and within budget, and meeting all health and safety requirements.
Click here to download brochures for Remediation Services. To request our latest company profile for both Asbestos Removal and Construction Services please email your request to
c.richardson@caswell-group.co.uk
remediation_brochure.pdf<@>Remediation Brochure<@>
Click here to download our Certification and Insurance details. Requests for current certfication should be requested by email to c.richardson@caswell-group.co.uk
asbestos_licence_30_1207665669.pdf<@>Asbestos License<@>
company_profile_18.08.09_28.pdf<@>CHAS Certificate<@>
3___arca_membership_cert__01.03.10.pdf<@>ARCA Certificate <@>
company_profile_18.08.09_18.pdf<@>Arca Site Audit Accreditation Certificate<@>
acad_red_stripe.pdf<@>ACAD Certficate <@>
company_profile_18.08.09_25.pdf<@>ConstructionLine Registration Certificate<@>
company_profile_18.08.09_24.pdf<@>Constructionline Asbestos Notation<@>
company_profile_18.08.09_26.pdf<@>ConstructionLine Management Contracting Certificate<@>
company_profile_28.10.09_12.pdf<@>Insurance Details<@>
company_profile_21.12.09_29.pdf<@>Exor Certificate<@>
29___iso_14001_15_73_1224836774.02<@>ISO 14001 Certificate<@>
company_profile_24.04.09_30.pdf<@>ISO 9001 Certificate<@>
company_profile_18.08.09_23.pdf<@>Link Up Proof Audit<@>
company_profile_28.10.09_22.pdf<@>Link-Up Assessment<@>
company_profile_22.06.09_26.pdf<@>Safe Contractor Certificate<@>
red_stripe_paper.pdf<@>UVDB Certificate<@>
company_profile_18.08.09_20.pdf<@>UVDB Certificate of Assessment<@>
asbestos_bch_certificates_5.pdf<@>Waste Carriers Certificates<@>
asbestos_bch_certificates_6.pdf<@>Waste Management License<@>
Click here to download a pdf with details of The Caswell Group’s published policies regarding Health & Safety and customer service
asbestos_brochure_32_2009.pdf<@>Health & Safety Policy Statement <@>
asbestos_brochure_34_2009.pdf<@>Environmental Policy<@>
asbestos_brochure_35_2009.pdf<@>Quality Policy<@>