Commercial pre-works surveys
Fit-outs and strip-outs reach into ceilings, risers, floor voids and partitions. We scope the survey around the works so the principal contractor has the asbestos information they need before the programme starts. We work across London and the East of England.
The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 require that asbestos is identified before work that may disturb it, and place a duty to manage on those responsible for non-domestic premises. For a fit-out, that translates into a practical question: which elements will actually be opened, cut or removed? A survey drawn around the proposed works — rather than around the whole demise — gives the contractor usable information without paying for areas that are staying untouched.
Send us the drawings or a scope of works and we will set the survey boundaries out in writing before the visit, including the areas we cannot access and what would be needed to reach them.
Suspended ceilings lifted, partitions removed, raised floors opened, risers and service voids altered for new mechanical and electrical routes. Cat A and Cat B works usually reach far more of the fabric than the floor plan suggests.
Shopfronts, ceilings, back-of-house areas, stockrooms and plant. Landlord's fabric and tenant's fit-out often meet at exactly the points being cut into.
Extraction routes, kitchen linings, boxing around services, floors and ceilings in both customer and service areas.
The most intrusive scope of all: linings, ceilings, floors, partitions and services taken back towards the structure. Survey scope needs to match the extent of the strip.
Roof sheets and lining panels, plant rooms, service runs, offices within the unit, and any older cement products around the envelope.
Reinstatement and end-of-lease works disturb the same fabric as a fit-out. Existing asbestos information is often held by the landlord or managing agent — worth requesting before instructing anything.
Intrusive inspection of the areas being worked on, before the fit-out or strip-out begins.
R&D surveysFor the parts of the building remaining in use, supporting the register and management plan.
Management surveysWhere a small number of specific materials need confirming by laboratory analysis.
Sampling and testingElements Surveying Group is an independent consultancy and does not sell asbestos removal, so the scope we recommend is not tied to selling follow-on works. Managing a portfolio rather than a single site? See surveys for managing agents and property managers.
Not sure which survey the works require? Use the survey selector, or see the guide prices.
Normally a Refurbishment & Demolition Survey covering the areas and elements the works will disturb. Where the building is remaining in use and only part of it is being altered, the scope can be limited to the works area and the services affected by it.
Usually not for works. A management survey is non-intrusive by design and is intended to support the duty to manage in an occupied building. It can be a useful starting point, and it may reduce what still needs to be looked at, but ceilings, risers, floors and partitions being opened generally need intrusive inspection.
It depends on the lease and on who is procuring the works. In practice, whoever is instructing the intrusive work needs the asbestos information to plan it. Where the landlord holds an existing survey and register, request it first; it may need extending rather than replacing.
Tell us the access constraints when you enquire — occupied floors, trading hours, permits or induction requirements — and we'll agree a slot that works for the programme.
Tell us when the contractor is due on site and we'll confirm the availability we can genuinely offer for that date.
Samples taken during the survey are analysed by an independent UKAS-accredited laboratory, and the results are reported back within the survey report.
No. Elements Surveying Group is an independent consultancy. We survey, sample and report; the removal work, where it is needed, is procured separately from a licensed contractor.
