How is asbestos managed in an older school refurbishment?

A large number of NSW school buildings date from a period when asbestos-containing materials were standard. Any refurbishment of that stock has to assume it is present until it is proven otherwise.

Handled properly it is a sequencing item. Handled badly it stops a project and closes a building.

It is established before the programme is set

The starting point is the asbestos register for the site, and a survey of the specific areas being disturbed. Registers are often incomplete on older buildings, particularly where work has been done over decades without records catching up.

The survey has to cover what the work will actually disturb, including what sits behind linings, under floor coverings and above ceilings. A survey of visible surfaces on a building where the work involves opening walls is not a survey of the work.

Getting this done during design rather than during construction is the difference between a planned removal and a discovered one.

Licensed removal, in the right window

Removal is carried out by licensed removalists under controlled conditions, with the area isolated, and with air monitoring where the class of work requires it.

Clearance certification is issued before any other trade returns to the area. That is not a formality, it is the gate. Nobody works in the space until it is cleared.

For a school, the window matters as much as the method. Removal work in an occupied building is scheduled into holiday periods wherever the programme allows, and where it cannot be, the isolation and the communication have to be substantially stronger.

Communication is part of the control

Parents, staff and the community will hear that asbestos work is happening, and the information vacuum fills with speculation faster than any other issue on a school site.

The controls that reduce that are practical. Notification before the work rather than during it, plain-language explanation of what is being done and why the area is safe, and clearance documentation available rather than referred to.

The discovery scenario

Sometimes it is found anyway, usually in a location no register recorded.

The response is immediate: stop work in the area, isolate it, and have it assessed. That costs programme, and it costs far less than the alternative.

A contractor working in this stock should have that response planned rather than improvised, and should have the relationships to get a licensed assessor and removalist on site quickly rather than in a fortnight.

What a client should look for

Evidence the contractor has delivered refurbishment in ageing school stock, a stated survey approach at design stage, and a clear statement of who holds the clearance certificates and when other trades are permitted back.

Monument has delivered directly for the NSW Department of Education since 2016, and works under an ISO 45001 certified safety management system. The fit out and refurbishment work in that stock is where this discipline is exercised.