Asbestos surveys and removal in Waltham Cross and Hoddesdon

What kind of buildings are found here?

EN8 and EN11 run along the west side of the Lea Valley, through Waltham Cross, most of Cheshunt and Hoddesdon. Both towns have older centres with Victorian terraces nearby, but much of their housing dates from the decades after the Second World War, when estates of council and private homes spread across former fields and nursery land. Those post-war decades were also the years when asbestos products were most widely used in British building.

What about the old glasshouse industry?

For much of the twentieth century this stretch of the valley was known for its glasshouse nurseries, growing tomatoes, cucumbers and flowers for London. Many sites have since become housing or business parks, but some packing sheds, boiler houses, stores and outbuildings remain on smallholdings and back plots. Buildings of that kind often have corrugated cement roofs or wall sheets, and old boiler houses may have had lagged pipes. Have a material tested before you clear or convert one. The same applies to old asbestos cement sheets that were left stacked or buried on former nursery land, which sometimes turn up when gardens are dug over.

Where does asbestos turn up in post-war homes?

In houses of the 1950s to the 1980s, the usual suspects include:

• textured coatings on ceilings
• floor tiles in kitchens, halls and bathrooms
• boards around boilers, in airing cupboards and under stairs
• cement soffits, gutters and flue pipes
• garage and shed roofs

Many local homes have since been extended or refitted, and a refurbishment survey limited to the rooms being changed is a sensible step before a builder starts.

What about business premises?

Trading and industrial estates sit close to the A10 and the M25, with warehouses, workshops and units of various ages. Owners and tenants responsible for maintaining a unit have a duty to manage asbestos. In a unit built before 2000, that usually starts with a management survey and a register. If you are fitting out or altering a unit, a refurbishment and demolition survey of the affected area comes first.

Who handles council homes and flats?

Broxbourne Borough Council covers both towns. If you rent from a landlord or housing association, ask them about any material you are worried about, because the shared parts of a block of flats come under their duty to manage.

What about waste?

Both towns are in Hertfordshire, so residents follow Hertfordshire County Council's guidance on household asbestos. Check it before you move any sheets or bags.