Type 3 Asbestos Survey

A type 3 asbestos survey is necessary when a commercial building is undergoing major refurbishment or, prior to demolition.

The aim of the type 3 asbestos survey is to ensure that all asbestos containing materials are identified.

This means that by it's nature, the type 3 asbestos survey is invasive and therefore likely to cause some damage to the fabric of the building.

For example, partition walls will be damaged in order to inspect voids.

Although the type 3 asbestos survey is a full sampling survey, it is not always possible to test every item. For example, it's unlikely that an asbestos surveyor will be suitably qualified to strip down heaters, electrical installations and other components and therefore these items will almost invariably be presumed to contain asbestos.

All that this means is that any such items should be placed into an asbestos skip during the demolition process, unless of course, it's considered more cost effective to have such items stripped and inspected individually - though in most cases it is not.

The same is true of fire doors.

Some older fire doors are known to have contained an asbestos layer as part of the construction.

The only way to test for this would be to core-drill the door (thus reducing its effectiveness) which in turn, could easily contaminate a building with asbestos debris, which of course, would involve an environmental clean afterwards!

So, our approach is to presume fire doors and have them disposed of safely in an asbestos skip during the demolition process.