Managing asbestos roofs across Somerset starts with the law
If you control a non-domestic building in Somerset, you’re responsible for managing asbestos under Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. That means finding it, checking its condition, keeping records and managing the risk. We don’t need to take sound asbestos cement off your roof. We can seal it, record it and monitor it in place. Encapsulation is us doing that job properly, as part of your management plan.
Where asbestos cement roofing sits across Somerset
Somerset is a mix of agriculture, food production and engineering. We see asbestos cement roofs on the industrial and distribution units around Bridgwater and the Hinkley supply chain, the aerospace works in Yeovil, and plenty of barns, dairies and grain stores across the Levels and the wider county.
Most of these roofs were built for a thirty-year life. They’ve long since gone past it. That’s why so many are now porous, covered in moss and leaking at the fixings, even where the sheets themselves still look sound.
The difference between asbestos roof painting and proper encapsulation is the specification and the controls. Around Somerset we only do it the second way.
Encapsulation, repair or removal: the honest choice
When we encapsulate a roof, we’re sealing sound asbestos cement, not taking it out. We start with a sheet-by-sheet survey. Then we clean the roof under controlled conditions, sort out any failed fixings and brittle rooflights. Only then do we put down a coating system designed specifically for asbestos cement. It binds the surface, locks the fibres in and gets the roof shedding water again for years. It’s far less disruptive and cheaper than ripping it all off and starting again.
When we will tell you to remove instead
Some roofs shouldn’t be coated. We’ll tell you that straight. Encapsulation is the wrong call if the sheets are badly cracked or full of holes, if the cement is soft and crumbling from years of water getting in, or if the whole structure has moved. And we only encapsulate asbestos cement. If you’ve got insulation board, lagging or sprayed coating, that’s licensed material for an HSE-licensed remover. If removal is the right answer, we’ll put that in writing and step aside.
Survey-led across Somerset
We survey commercial, industrial, managed and agricultural buildings across the county, including Taunton, Bridgwater, Yeovil, Wells and Glastonbury. Our approach is the same wherever the building is:
- A condition survey of sheets, fixings, rooflights, gutters and structure
- A photographic record for your asbestos management plan
- A plain written recommendation: encapsulate, repair first, or refer for removal
- A specification and price only where coating is genuinely appropriate
- Work carried out under controlled, documented conditions
If you’ve got a building in your portfolio from the 1960s to the 1980s and the roof hasn’t been checked, a free asbestos roof encapsulation survey will answer both the compliance and the cost questions for you.
We carry out asbestos roof encapsulation in and around Somerset. For the full survey-led service and how we assess each building, see our Asbestos Roof Encapsulation service, or request a free site survey.
Recently — June 2026
Through the drier summer months we can programme preparation, coating and curing with far less chance of a weather delay holding the job up.
We continue to survey every building before recommending a route. Whether to coat, repair or replace is decided on the condition of your roof, not a price list.
