Airborne Environmental Consultants Limited (AEC) works for housing associations and local councils to carry out asbestos surveys in their properties. This is a normal part of the property maintenance process, and all housing associations and councils are required to do this.
If you have been contacted by a member of the AEC Homes Team there is no need to be alarmed. It means that your landlord is doing their job to manage the refurbishment work in your property and to manage the planned work or any future reactive maintenance tasks.
Although asbestos sounds serious, it is actually a common material found in many properties that have been built or have undergone major refurbishment pre-2000. If managed properly asbestos is no cause for concern. Your landlord will request a survey within your home for future general maintenance or planned refurbishment work if you are having a new kitchen or bathroom, new windows or doors and roofing work. Many building projects also require upgrades for electrics or heating and the surveyor will need to check these areas. They may also ask us to carry out a re-inspection within communal areas of flats and sheltered accommodation and therefore within flats and sheltered accommodation, you may see our team within the staircase, lift lobbies, corridors or plant areas within flats. This is a normal part of the inspection process.
Our surveyor may need to to carry out a survey if your landlord has planned repairs/ improvement works / refurbishment in your home. There are different types of surveys and this will depend on the work that is planned for your property. When carrying out surveys, this will involve taking a small sample of building material to take away for testing, please see this home image for typical locations . When carrying out a survey ahead of refurbishment work, we will need to open up areas within a kitchen or bathroom for example behind a bath panel, above a ceiling or within boxed in areas on walls. This may create a small intrusion that will be taped over, however this will be repaired as part of your building project.
The surveyor may ask you to move stored items to allow the survey to reach the areas where your refurbishment work will take place and will discuss this during the survey process. The information collected during the survey is needed to allow the work to progress safely. The results will be sent to your landlord before any works are carried out.
We will need someone over the age of 18 years old to be home on the day of the inspection to give us access to your home. Our Homes Team will call you to make an appointment and text you nearer the date with a reminder. You may wish to keep our numbers safe so you know who is calling you. You can also use these numbers to contact us if you need to reschedule your appointment. Manchester Tenants: Telephone 0161 6769997 or 0161 6769998 or Liverpool Tenants: Telephone 0151 5417479
Read our Frequently Asked Questions below to find out more about what to expect and how to prepare for your appointment.
Need to contact us?
If you have any queries please complete the tenant enquiry form below or call us on Tel. 0161 6769997/0161 6769998 (Manchester) or Tel. 0151 5417479 (Liverpool)
Often our homes team will make appointments by text message. They will also send text reminders nearer the time. If you are concerned, you can call your housing landlord or our homes appointment booking team on tel. 0161 676 998
Our text messages look like this:
Your landlord may have requested us to carry out an asbestos survey before any major work is done on your property to identify if any asbestos-containing materials are there which may be disturbed. We also carry out regular re-inspections in properties with communal areas to make sure asbestos-containing materials are in a safe condition.
Our surveyor will arrive at the agreed appointment time. They will be wearing an AEC uniform and have an ID badge.
Re-inspections
The surveyor will have a plan of your property and will know which areas they need to inspect. The inspection is a visual inspection only so there is no damage to your property. The surveyor will inspect areas where the asbestos has been previously identified and check the condition of the material. They will take a photograph of the materials and record their findings on a hand held tablet device.
Surveying and Sampling
Occasionally our surveyors will be asked to carry out a survey to see if asbestos is present. This is usually carried prior to any refurbishment works and will involve taking a small sample of the material that is suspected to contain asbestos material. The samples are sent back to the AEC laboratory for analysis and the results are sent to your landlord.
Yes. We will need someone over the age of 18 years old to be home on the day of the inspection to give us access to your home. Our Homes Team will call or text you to make an appointment and text you nearer the date with a reminder.
If you can no longer attend the appointment time, please call us as soon as possible to re-arrange a new time. You can contact us on : Telephone 0161 676997 or 0151 5417479. You can also email us at: [email protected]
We estimate the survey will take approximately between 45 minutes – 1 hr.
You will be offered either a morning or afternoon appointment. We cannot give an exact time as our surveyors will usually have another appointment before you, and the length of time can vary from home to home. Added with traffic and other conditions that are out of our control it can make it difficult for us to arrive an at exact time.
Yes. If you would prefer to have someone with you, you can always ask a trusted person to be at home with you on the day of the appointment. Please make our homes team aware if you have any additional needs that may affect your appointment.
Yes. All our staff wear an AEC uniform and carry a company ID badge showing their name and photograph.
This is what our staff uniform and ID badge look like:
Our surveyors are required to take photos of the areas they are surveying so that they have a visual record their findings. They will avoid any areas that are personal to you and they will not contain personal information. The photograph is used within the final asbestos survey report only.
Our survey reports are sent directly to your social housing landlord. If you want to know more about the findings please contact your landlord.
We understand that your pets are part of your family too. However, if you have a dog, we would politely ask that you keep your dog secured in another room just to be safe.
For safety reasons our surveyors do not remove their shoes. However, they do carry protective overshoe covers that they can wear to protect your floors and carpets.
