A Refurbishment or demolition survey is needed before any refurbishment or demolition works are carried out.

This type of survey is used to locate and describe, as far as reasonably practicable, all asbestos containing materials in the area where refurbishment or demolition work is taking place. The survey will be fully intrusive and involve destructive inspection, as necessary, to gain access to all areas, including those that may be difficult to reach.

There is a specific requirement in CAR 2012 (Regulation 7) for all ACMs to be removed as far as reasonably practicable before major refurbishment or final demolition. Removing asbestos is also appropriate in other smaller refurbishment situations which involve structural or layout changes to buildings (e.g. removal of walls, ceilings etc.). The survey report should be supplied by the client to contractors who are carrying out the work, so that the asbestos risks can be addressed. In this type of survey, where the asbestos is identified so that it can be removed.

Refurbishment and demolition surveys are intended to locate all the asbestos in the building (or the relevant part), as far as reasonably practicable. It is a disruptive and fully intrusive survey which may need to penetrate all parts of the building structure.