Wakefield and the former-coalfield towns around it are full of post-war industrial buildings, and a large share of them still carry corrugated asbestos cement roofing. On the trading estates, in the workshop and storage units, and on the large-span sheds that replaced heavier industry across West Yorkshire, fibre-cement sheet was the standard covering for decades. If you own or manage one of these non-domestic buildings, the law sets out specific duties, and you eventually have to decide whether to remove the roof or seal it in place.
What the Control of Asbestos Regulations require
Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 places a duty to manage asbestos on whoever controls a non-domestic building. That means identifying the asbestos-containing materials, assessing their condition, keeping a written record, and managing the risk. On the older industrial stock around Wakefield, built from the late 1950s through to the early 1980s, the roof is frequently the single largest asbestos element on the whole site.
The duty does not order you to remove anything. It requires you to keep the material in a safe condition and to have a plan for doing so. Where the sheets are structurally sound, a properly applied encapsulation system is a recognised way of meeting that obligation, at significantly lower cost than stripping and replacing the roof, and with far less disruption to whatever the building is being used for.
How encapsulation works
Asbestos cement releases fibres as its surface weathers, cracks and erodes over the years. Encapsulation locks that surface down. The roof is cleaned using controlled wet methods, never dry abrasion, damaged fixings and flashings are made good, minor repairs are carried out, and the whole surface is then sealed with a flexible coating designed for asbestos cement substrates. The result is a watertight roof, the fibres bound into the sheet, and several more years of service from a covering that was otherwise on a slow decline.
Signs your roof may be a candidate
Not every roof qualifies, which is exactly why we survey before we quote. Broadly, encapsulation makes sense where:
- The sheets are weathered but free of widespread cracking or holes
- The cement substrate is firm, not soft or delaminating
- Fixings, laps and flashings are largely intact or repairable
- The roof structure beneath is sound
- The building has a working future that justifies the investment
When we will tell you not to encapsulate
An honest survey sometimes ends with advice you were not hoping for. Coating a failing roof wastes your money, because the coating moves with the sheet, and if the sheet itself is breaking up no coating will hold it together. Where we find brittle, delaminating or extensively cracked sheets, repeated structural leaks, or a roof frame that can no longer carry the load safely, we will tell you that removal and replacement is the right course and put that in writing. The same applies if the material turns out not to be asbestos cement at all. Higher-risk products such as insulation board or sprayed coatings are a different category of work entirely and normally require an HSE-licensed removal contractor. Encapsulation is for sound asbestos cement, and we will not pretend otherwise.
Survey first, then a clear decision
Before anyone talks numbers, we inspect the roof properly: sheet condition, fixings, rooflights, gutters, internal evidence of leaks, and the state of the structure carrying it all. You receive written findings and a clear recommendation, whether that is encapsulation, repair first, or removal by the appropriate contractor. It is worth knowing that encapsulation does not end your duty to manage. The asbestos remains in place, stays on your register, and should be re-inspected periodically. What changes is its condition, from a slowly deteriorating liability into a sealed, maintained roof. If you are responsible for a building in or around Wakefield, the sensible first step is a proper condition survey.
