Considering topical issues in Surveying and Property related areas and also within the wider Construction Industry. Readers are encouraged to comment on topics and to make suggestions for future postings.
…..the inspection, identification and testing of asbestos is a
specialist activity which is shrouded in a wide range of policies and
procedures written into legislation. It
is therefore imperative that specialist advice is sought where there is a
possibility of the existence and/or discovery of asbestos or asbestos
containing products or components in buildings
Source: http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/
Over the last few weeks I have introduced asbestos and in particular its
extensive use in UK construction.In Part 1 (link) I discussed the health risks associated with being exposed to
asbestos fibres and subsequently why asbestos is no longer used in UK
construction. I also explained that asbestos containing products/components in
buildings only becomes a problem if they are disturbed or become damaged and
that there is no need to panic if asbestos containing products/components are
discovered in buildings. In last week’s article (link) I went onto explain that
asbestos is not easy to identify, even for the trained eye as it is often
concealed or decorated, making it difficult to differentiate from other
building products/components. I finally gave some examples of the wide use of
asbestos cement in UK construction with some images of its typical uses.In the final part of this three part article
I will gives some examples of the wider uses of asbestos containing products
and components in buildings, some of which you may find surprising.
It is first worth re-emphasising that the inspection, identification and
testing of asbestos is a specialist activity which is shrouded in a wide range
of policies and procedures written into legislation. It is therefore imperative that specialist
advice is sought where there is a possibility of the existence and/or discovery
of asbestos or asbestos containing products or components in buildings. Textured
Coatings – used as a finish onto ceilings or wall surfaces
to give a decorative appearance. Textured coatings that may contain asbestos
are difficult to identify from a visual inspection, as many have been painted over.
The asbestos fibres are held in place within the coating and are not easily
released unless sanded down, or during removal.
Floor
tiles, textiles and Composites – You may be
surprised to learn that asbestos can be found in PVC floor tiles. Discovery is
often further complicated as these types of floor tiles are often covered
over with newer floor coverings.
As previously discussed in Part 1, asbestos is an extremely flexible
material as such it could be woven and spun, allowing it to be used for
products such as fire blankets as well as textiles within electrical fuse boxes
which allowed additional fire protection behind the actual fuses.
Asbestos composites allowed asbestos to be used for a variety of products
for which typical examples are toilet cisterns and seats, window sills, and
bath panels. These are products that many people do not readily associate with
asbestos.
Spray
Coatings - often found as insulation on the underside of
roofs and sometimes on the sides of buildings and also used as fire protection
on steel beams/columns as well as on the underside of separating floors. Identification
of suspected asbestos containing spray coatings is usually made with the presence of a rough
surface, white or grey in colour, although painting of a spray coating can make
this more difficult to identify. Some spray coatings can contain up to 85%
asbestos. When this is added to the fact
that spray coatings can be very friable (break up easily), this use is one of
the most dangerous asbestos containing products found in buildings.
Asbestos
Insulating Board (AIB) – Can be found in a number of
different locations within a building as it was used for a variety of fire proofing applications. AIB can therefore be found as ceiling panels/tiles, soffit boards, partition walls,
lift shaft linings, panels within fire doors amongst other applications.
Lagging and Insulation – Mostly found as insulation around heating
pipework and has many different appearances, which is commonly a fibrous
material that can break up easily. When applied to pipes it is often covered with
a protective coating, which can be a variety of different colours that
sometimes makes it difficult to identify. As with spray coatings, this is a
particularly dangerous form of asbestos.
Loose
Fill Asbestos – used as insulation and found in cavity walls, in
floors and loft spaces. Due to its loose nature this is possibly the most
dangerous form of asbestos used in buildings.
Its appearance is blue/grey in colour or sometimes off white and is
often made of pure asbestos. Although
much of this form of asbestos has now been removed it is still likely to be
discovered and should only be inspected and dealt with by a specialist wearing
and using the correct protective equipment.
The information and images discussed above and within last week’s article
provide some typical examples of the use and identification of asbestos
containing materials and components within buildings. Please bear in mind that the examples
provided are far from exhaustive and asbestos can be found in numerous other
locations within buildings. Having said
this I hope these articles have provided a good introduction to asbestos is
buildings.
Please feel
free to share this article and other articles on this site with friends,
family and colleagues who you think would be interested
Information/opinions
posted on this site are the personal views of the author and should not be
relied upon by any person or any third party without first seeking further
professional advice. Also, please scroll down and read the copyright
notice at the end of the blog.
Asbestos in buildings is not easy to identify even for those with
experience of buildings and construction. This is not only due to the vast use of
asbestos in buildings but also due to the fact that it is often concealed or
decorated, making it difficult to differentiate from other
components/products
http://www.house-extension.co.uk/
In last week’s article (Link) I discussed the many positive characteristics of
asbestos, which led to the extensive use of asbestos in UK buildings for a wide variety of components/products.I also explained
that due to the serious health risks associated with either working with or
being exposed to asbestos fibres, that asbestos is no longer used in building
construction in the UK.Having said that
asbestos was so widely used in UK buildings particularly between circa 1950 to
1980 that it’s discovery in buildings is still highly likely today and
something that will continue to be an issue well into the future.It is therefore worthwhile trying to
understand how to identify asbestos and where it may be discovered in
buildings.
The first thing to make clear is that asbestos in buildings is not easy
to identify, even for those with experience of buildings and construction
generally. This is not only due to the
vast use of asbestos in buildings but also due to the fact that it is often
concealed or decorated, making it difficult to differentiate from other
components/products. The only real way
of knowing whether something that may be suspected as asbestos is actually
asbestos is to have the component/product tested. There are very strict procedures for sampling
and testing of asbestos as set out in the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012,
which will require the services of a specialist.
As you would imagine this can sometimes prove to be costly, however if
you do not follow the legislation you are obviously breaking the law and
secondly, possibly compromising the health of yourself and others.
Without wishing to go into too much technical detail for this article
there are six different types of asbestos that may be found in UK buildings;
Amosite, Chrysotile, Crocidolite, Tremolite, Actinolite and Anthophyllite, for which the
first three were the most commonly used in UK construction. The health risks associated
with all types of asbestos are very similar however Crocidolite, sometimes
referred to as blue asbestos is considered to be the most dangerous of
all. As stated previously, in order to
establish whether asbestos is present and if so which type it is it will be
necessary for sampling and testing to take place in accordance with the
procedures detailed in the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.
So where is asbestos likely
to be found in buildings? Interesting the answer is pretty much anywhere! Remember asbestos is not easy to identify so
an awareness of where it was used will help those to identify ‘suspected’
asbestos and recommend subsequently sampling and testing to confirm the presence of
asbestos, or not. Asbestos cement
products are discussed below and in next week’s article I will provide some
further typical examples of where asbestos may be found in buildings. Also, if
you want to undertake further research into the uses of asbestos in UK
buildings then you will find that the examples provided in my articles are far from exhaustive.
Asbestos Cement - Asbestos cement is
ordinary cement mixed with asbestos, in some cases the asbestos can make up
over a third of the overall content however, typically however the overall asbestos
content is often much lower. Asbestos cement
is generally considered as one of the lower risk asbestos products as the
asbestos fibres are effectively held or ‘trapped’ within a ‘rigid’ component, once
the cement, water and asbestos has cured (hardened). Asbestos cement products start to become a problem
if they become damaged or disturbed, so it is worth knowing where these could be
found.
The photographs below demonstrate that asbestos cement sheeting was a
very popular way of providing roof coverings for outhouses and garages in
domestic buildings as well as roof and wall cladding for industrial or low
specification commercial buildings. Asbestos cement roof and wall cladding
sheets are usually identified by their distinctive ‘corrugated’ form and their
dull grey colour, (although the colour can sometimes be affected by the impact
of weathering and decorations):
Associated with asbestos cement roof and wall
cladding sheets were also products such as asbestos cement rainwater downpipes
and hoppers. Hoppers are located at the top of a rainwater downpipe, or at the
junction of a number of rainwater pipes, as detailed in the image below:
Due the excellent fire resistant properties of asbestos, asbestos cement
was often used for flue pipes for boilers and heaters. This enabled combustion waste products, often
at high temperatures to be discharged from a building safely and with minimal
risk of fire. Asbestos cement pipes were also used for air conditioning and
ventilation systems:
Asbestos cement products and components were used and installed in UK
construction for many years and are arguably the most commonly used asbestos
product installed. There were however
many other uses/applications of asbestos in UK construction and next week I
will provide some examples of these wider applications and how they may be
identified.
Please feel
free to share this article and other articles on this site with friends,
family and colleagues who you think would be interested
Information/opinions posted on this
site are the personal views of the author and should not be relied upon by any
person or any third party without first seeking further professional advice.
Also, please scroll down and read the copyright notice at the end of
the blog.
Despite popular belief the discovery of
asbestos containing materials in a building does not need to be a serious
problem. There is nothing written in the
Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 that states that asbestos must be removed
from a building
Source: https://www.nachi.org
Most of the publicity that asbestos has received for
many years is negative and would have us believe that anyone who works or
occupies a building that contains asbestos are at significant risk, however
this is far from the truth. It is also true to say that those who worked with
asbestos, whether it’s extraction or use/installation in buildings and were
oblivious to the associated health risks at the time are those who are
suffering asbestos related diseases such as Mesothelioma, Lung Cancer,
Asbestosis and the like for which many have sadly died. Having said that, the answer to the article
title is quite simple, Asbestos is not a
problem in buildings as long it is identified, managed and controlled.
Before delving into the many publicised problems
with asbestos it is first worth understanding why its use was so popular and
why it is still found extensively in buildings throughout the UK. Asbestos was such a versatile and durable
mineral that it lent itself to so many different uses in buildings due to its many
positive qualities. You may be surprised
to learn that Asbestos has been used for many centuries in different forms
throughout the World however its use became much more widespread in the UK from the
early part of the twentieth century and was extensively used in UK buildings
between 1950 and 1980. In fact asbestos is still used in some countries today
despite the many know health risks associated with it. There are still vast amount of asbestos
deposits present around the World which are extracted using mining techniques
which are much the same as processes used for extraction of other minerals.
Source: http://www.nzdl.org/
Positive qualities of Asbestos for use in buildings - Asbestos is chemically inert which means that it
does not react with other chemicals, it is heat resistant making it
non-flammable even at high temperatures, it is alkaline and acid resistant,
water resistant, strong in tension, flexible (it can be used and made into
rigid components or spun and woven like cotton), it has no detectable smell, it
is resilient and can last for many years and it is extremely resistant to
abrasion. All in all, when you read
through these qualities it is easy to see why asbestos was so popular and used
for so many different products/components in buildings.
For a number of years in the UK asbestos has been
classified as a ‘deleterious material’, which is defined by Longworth
Consulting as ‘materials or building techniques which are dangerous to
health, or which are environmentally unfriendly, or which tend to fail in
practice. Oftenlisted in property agreements, appointments andbuilding
contracts where the developer, consultant or contractor is required not to use them’. The Health
& Safety Executive’s (HSE), ‘Working with Asbestos in Buildings’ leaflet identifies
the point at which asbestos was banned from use in the UK, ‘blue and brown
asbestos (the two most dangerous forms) have not been imported into the UK for
nearly 20 years and their use was banned in 1985. White asbestos was banned
(except for a small number of specialised uses) in 1999’. Therefore,
although asbestos has not been used as a building component/produce for nearly
fifteen years we are still seeing deaths and serious illnesses as a result
of exposure to asbestos many years ago.
The positive attributes of asbestos described above
are conversely the main reasons why asbestos related diseases are nearly always
incurable. Working on or near damaged asbestos-containing materials or
breathing in high levels of asbestos fibres, which may have been many hundreds
of times that of environmental levels could increase the chances of getting an
asbestos-related disease. Due to
asbestos fibres being so hard to destroy, the body cannot break them down
or remove them once they arelodged in lung or body
tissues. They remain in place and over a period of time they can cause disease. There are many instances where asbestos
related symptoms have not manifested themselves for almost 30 years, however
this will also depend on the general health of an individual, which can
significantly reduce the point in which symptoms will show themselves.
Source: http://globalnews.ca/
Although the above may seem to be alarmist the truth
of the matter is that asbestos containing materials in buildings are perfectly
safe as long as they are identified, managed and controlled. Asbestos will only
become a problem in buildings if it is disturbed or becomes damaged.Despite popular belief the discovery of
asbestos containing materials in a building does not need to be a serious
problem.There is nothing written in the
Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 that states that asbestos must be
removed from a building, in fact If existing
asbestos containing materials are in good condition and are not likely to be disturbed, they may be left in place as long as their condition is monitored and
managed to ensure that they do not become damaged.
Over the next few weeks I will provide some guidance of the many
uses of asbestos in buildings and also provide
some examples of where you may find asbestos in a building. For those who are
not familiar with asbestos I suspect that some of the uses will come as a
surprise.
Please
feel free to share this article and other articles on this site with friends,
family and colleagues who you think would be interested
Information/opinions posted on
this site are the personal views of the author and should not be relied upon by
any person or any third party without first seeking further professional
advice. Also, please scroll down and read the copyright notice at the
end of the blog.
Under
the Water Resources Act 1991, it remains a criminal offence to discharge
effluent that is not of a sufficient quality into a watercourse without the consent
of the Environment Agency. This can result in a three month prison sentence or
a fine of up to £100,000. Therefore it is important to ensure your
installations are up to date.
Source: http://www.mtmdrains.co.uk/
Consideration of drainage is an important part of
any development and in the vast majority of cases UK developments will enjoy
the benefit of being able to connect to ‘main drainage’.In rural or more isolated areas, where mains
drainage is not generally available, alternative methods of controlling and
disposing of drainage, particularly foul waste, need to be considered.Septic tanks are one such option:
The first recorded septic tank was installed in
1896 by Donald Cameron who was the city Surveyor for Exeter. This septic tank
served the entire town and was 20 x 6m to a depth 2.1m. Since then there has
been some progress in the development of septic tanks, but the principles are
basically the same.
Source: http://www.septicrepairny.com/
Septic tanks are covered in UK Building Regulations
under Approved Document H, and it is an offence not to build new structures to
the standards as set out in the Building Regulations under the Building Act
1990. However as long as the British Standards are followed or bettered this
should not be a problem. See BS6297:2007 for further guidance. Building Regulations
do not apply retrospectively and so septic tanks that pre-date the 1985
Building Regulations are not affected. This is despite the fact that many
septic tanks are no longer fit for purpose due to the increase in water usage
rates over the last fifty years. However under the Water Resources Act 1991, it
remains a criminal offence to discharge effluent that is not of a sufficient
quality into a watercourse without the consent of the Environment Agency. This
can result in a three month prison sentence or a fine of up to £100,000.
Therefore it is important to ensure your installations are up to date.
Treatment - All
foul drainage should enter a tank including water from W.C’s, showers, sinks,
baths and domestic appliances such as washing machines etc.Washing
machines and dishwashers are often discharged into rainwater pipes as it is
easier, but this can have a significant impact on the local environment and
should always be avoided.
A Septic Tank is a self contained installation that
processes and treats raw sewage. It is a tank which stores the waste allowing
enough time for the organic matter to decompose through natural processes. The
sewage becomes liquefied, with a thick oily scum forming on the top and sludge
that settles on the bottom. What is left is a central layer of clear liquid,
which in older tanks is often emptied straight to a watercourse (which is
illegal and harmful to the environment), but in new installations it is treated
further before been discharged. The sludge at the bottom is made up of
everything that is too heavy to remain in suspension and the oily layer that
sits atop is the matter that can decompose naturally.
The secondary treatment usually comes in the form
of a soakaway, where the water is drained into a hole formed underground, using
plastic formwork that can be described as looking like milk crates, where the
water will be soaked up slowly by the ground. Soakaways come with their own set
of legal requirements.
The other type of secondary treatment comes in the
form of a bio-filter. These have sweeper arms that drip the effluent over
clinker beds. Please note that a septic tank is not the same thing as a
cess pit, which is a container that stores sewage until it can be emptied
and treated elsewhere. Older tanks are often square in shape with brick walls,
although modern installations are often pre-fabricated uPVC units that can be
square or circular. The septic tank is made of either two separate tanks or one
tank split into two
Capacity - A septic tank should be 180 litres in size for
every person it serves, with an additional 2000 litres of capacity regardless
of the number of people using it.
Litres = 180P + 2000
Where P = the amount of persons served by the tank.
The above calculation should treat children as
adults and allows for emptying on an annual basis.
This is so the sewage can be stored long enough
that the decomposition of the waste can occur. Anything smaller than this will
mean untreated sewage is discharged and solids may cause blockages in the
pipework, or if installed the bio-filter. If untreated sewage is allowed to
drain into the local environment, there is likely to be an increase in disease,
rat infestation and damage to the local environment.
End Product - One of the end products of a septic tank is
sludge. This is raw sewage that remains in the tank, and then emptied
periodically. The other is water that consists of nitrates and tiny fragments
of sewage.
General
Problems - An excess of detergent will inhibit separation of
the three layers. An excess of disinfectants will kill of the bacteria involved
in the treatment process. Day to day domestic use should not cause any problems
in a well designed and maintained system. Water softeners however produce salts
which in excess can kill of the bacteria required to make the system work.
De-sludging - How often to de-sludge depends largely upon the
occupancy of the household and size of tank, but for an average household of 4
people it would be reasonable to assume an annual de-sludging would be
sufficient.
Mains
Drainage - If there is a nearby sewer you have the right to
connect to it. Just contact the local sewerage company and they will give
you further details on how to arrange for a connection.
Construction
Requirements - Reference should be made to BS6297:2007, which
contains recommended materials for use. Rain and groundwater must be prevented
from entering the Septic tank, as clean water should not be contaminated.
Therefore the tank should be covered, which also helps with the safety issues
of having an open tank. Access must be maintained with an access hatch of at
least 600mm square. This access should allow for inspection of the inlets and
outlets, and should be large enough to allow rodding. Tanks should be situated;
1. Not within 15 metres of the dwelling in question.
2. Not within 10 metres of a watercourse.
3. Not on land that it is regularly flooded, or land that has a high water
table.
4. So that a tanker can access for emptying (e.g within 30 metres of vehicle
access).
5. Downwind of nearby dwellings if at all possible.
For more information on a variety of
property and construction related articles please visit www.propertyhive.org
Please feel
free to share this article and other articles on this site with friends,
family and colleagues who you think would be interested
Information/opinions
posted on this site are the personal views of the author and should not be
relied upon by any person or any third party without first seeking further
professional advice. Also, please scroll down and read the copyright notice
at the end of the blog.
Once a lease is signed a legal
contractual relationship is formed. It
is no defence for a tenant to claim that they were not aware of what they were
signing as ignorance is no defence in law!
Source: http://brisbanecommercialproperty.com.au/
A tenant occupier of a commercial building has a
legally binding contractual obligation through their lease to return a building
to the landlord in a state of repair that is stipulated within the lease, when
the tenancy ends.Now it may seem
obvious that a landlord would expect to have a building returned to them in
such a condition so that they can re-let the building immediately, however in
reality this very rarely is the case.This can then lead to protracted dilapidations claims where the costs to
the tenant can start to escalate due to a landlord’s a claim for loss of rent
and service charge and additional professional fees in addition to the costs of
repairs, reinstatement and decorations that are associated with the lease covenants.
In my professional career I spent many years
negotiating dilapidation claims (acting on behalf of both landlords and tenants) in
the whole spectrum of the different commercial sectors, such as office,
industrial, retail, leisure etc.During
this time I have encountered many tenants who did not understand the
significance of meeting their lease obligations and in fact entered into a
lease arrangement without seeking professional advice or indeed reading the
lease in any detail before signing! The
gravity of the situation did not dawn onto these types of tenants until they
were served with a schedule of dilapidations accompanied by a summary of claim
which often ran into tens of thousands of pounds and sometimes even more.
Once a lease is signed a legal contractual
relationship is formed.It is no defence
for a tenant to claim that they were not aware of what they were signing as
ignorance is no defence in law! Therefore
a tenant should be aware of what they are entering into and in particular their
repairing and other obligations BEFORE they sign the lease.Although there would be a fee involved it
would always be advisable for a tenant to seek professional advice to enable
them to understand the lease and in particular their likely dilapidations
liability once the lease comes to an end.Good professional advice may identify obligations and clauses in a lease
that may be particularly onerous to a tenant and negotiations may be possible
to have clauses removed or at least re-worded.Also, a professional advisor may recommend that a schedule of condition
is taken prior to occupation which can later be used to help limit liability
when the lease comes to an end.In my
experience I have found that many tenants are reluctant to pay professional
fees for some of the services/advice previously discussed because they do not
have the foresight to appreciate the benefits and especially the amount of
money it could save them in the future.Avoiding professional fees, particularly in relation to a tenant
entering into a commercial lease arrangement really is a false economy.
A few of years ago I was asked to carry out a dilapidations
liability assessment on a number of branches of a mid-sized DIY retailer’s
stores which had been put up for sale.I
was acting as Consultant for the prospective purchaser.The stores were located in many parts of the
UK for which each one was occupied under a commercial lease arrangement.Basically, my Client was considering
acquisition of the business, however before being in a position to negotiate a
fair price for the business it was necessary for them to understand the likely
financial impact (their dilapidations liability), to them when each of the
leases came to an end.Each of the leases
were unique, with a variety of remaining terms, (some had a few years remaining
and some were much longer). There were also a variety of different repairing,
re-instatement and decorations covenants within the leases.
Prior to undertaking any type of dilapidations
inspection it is important to read and understand the lease, which is what I
did, and on completion of each inspection I was able to prepare a schedule of
dilapidations for each branch.The
difference with dilapidations liability inspections compared to interim or
terminal dilapidations inspections is that you need to have an eye on the
future.So I therefore had to take
account of the length of term remaining on each lease and to make an assessment
of the likely dilapidations that would occur at that point (the end of the
term) and not just in the here and know.I was then able to cost/quantify the lease obligations which would also
factor in likely future inflationary cost increases.I cannot remember the exact overall
dilapidations liability however I do remember this totalling in excess of £1
million.Not exactly the type of money
you want to ignore if you are proposing to purchase a business!My Client then went onto to use this to help
negotiate a purchase price.
Not all dilapidations liability will be as costly as
the example I give above, however it is worth educating tenants about the
benefits of seeking and paying for professional advice before they enter into a
commercial lease arrangement.In most
cases larger companies will have there own professional advisers so the
pitfalls discussed above are much more likely to be avoided.In my experience it is the medium and
particularly the smaller size companies or even individuals who are less
familiar with commercial lease arrangements and worse are much more willing to
avoid paying professional fees.Perhaps
it is to these companies/individuals that we need to focus our education?
Please
feel free to share this article and other articles on this site with friends,
family and colleagues who you think would be interested
Information/opinions posted on
this site are the personal views of the author and should not be relied upon by
any person or any third party without first seeking further professional advice.
Also, please scroll down and read the copyright notice at the end of
the blog.
