North East Derbyshire District Council
The Company
North East Derbyshire District Council (NEDDC) provides shared services for the county of Derbyshire. One of their main areas of service responsibility is Housing.
In 2001, the Government set a minimum criteria of repair for social housing to meet the Decent Homes Standard by the year 2010. As part of their investment plan to provide the required standard of homes, NEDDC has recently bid for approximately Ł60 million from the Government.
The Challenge
In response to the Decent Homes Scheme and the ongoing governance of the Council’s property and the health and safety of their staff, the public and their tenants, NEDDC needed to undertake asbestos surveys across their stock.
The primary objective of the surveys is to assess the condition of stock and secondary to detail work required and the associated cost and timescale to enable the council to maintain and control accurate investment planning.
As the Council's portfolio extend to Council Offices, Leisure Centres in addition to other categories, it was essential for all these properties to feature within the wider asbestos management strategy.
NEDDC selected Life Environmental to implement a thorough approach to asbestos management and to undertake asbestos surveys.
Our Solution
With vast experience of asbestos surveys in the public sector and our pro-approach to co-operative working, Life Environmental was the natural choice to plan and carry out asbestos surveys for NEDDC.
Our solution began with the planning for objective samples and subsequent analysis on Council properties. A representation of 20% of the Council's stock was surveyed in agreement with the HSE. This approach has been welcomed by NEDDC who have extended the original 20% of stock in the next round of surveys, rather than revisiting the original 20%.
Groups of Surveys:
- Property in anticipation of Public Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes (schemes where a private company takes over the maintenance of Council housing stock)
- Properties for the Decent Homes Scheme
- Part surveys on the domestic property (eg Soffit testing) for smaller projects such as fitting new windows
- Full Type 3 surveys on domestic property for demolition and refurbishment
All our survey reports are presented in ENVACS format. We have been able to provide NEDDC with clear and concise information on the level of risk encountered across their stock.
The Results
- Risk mitigation; through impartial and accurate asbestos survey and reporting
- Cost savings; from prioritising of investment/remedial activities via effective decision-making from accurate data.
