Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral made up of fibrous silicates.

When asbestos fibres are inhaled, it can lead to serious diseases.

Manifestation of these diseases take years and is harmful in nature.

The use of asbestos materials in buildings, as well as the import of raw asbestos, have been prohibited since the late 1980s.

However, asbestos-containing materials such as corrugated roofs, ceiling boards, and partition walls can still be found in many old buildings. Harmful asbestos fibres may be released during the removal or demolition of such materials, thus posing a health risk to workers, building occupants, and the general public.

Asbestos surveys are required for any building work carried out in buildings built before 1 January 1991.
Building work refers to:
- Demolition of a building
- Repair works of a building
- Additions & Alterations works of a building
- Reconstruction works of a building

This means that if the existing house / building was built before 1 January 1991, and you’re planning for any type of building works, you will need to have an asbestos survey conducted before authorities submission to BCA can be made.

How do you check when your building was first built?

You may purchase the BCA as-built BP plans from BCA to verify which year the house was first built in. Refer to this article for more info.

It is important to note that an asbestos survey is different from asbestos removal works.
The survey consists of extracting samples from various elements within the house / building. Following which, these samples will be sent to a testing laboratory to see if asbestos is present in the building materials sampled from site. An asbestos survey report will be generated and is required as part of the BCA submission.

Should the report conclude that asbestos is present at site, then specialist contractors will have to be engaged to carry out the asbestos removal. Only MOM approved contractors may remove asbestos from the site, and any disposal of asbestos waste must be carried out only by NEA approved asbestos disposal contractors.

Feel free to get in touch with READ Architecture if you have any queries about your building project needs, find out more about us here.

Thank you for READing.