Plymouth homes
Asbestos in Plymouth homes: what is worth checking
Much of Plymouth was rebuilt after the Blitz, so a lot of its homes fall in the age range HSE says to check. Here is what that means, by type of home.
Why Plymouth's history matters for asbestos
HSE says buildings built after 2000 are unlikely to contain asbestos, so the older the property, the more it is worth checking before building work. Source: HSE introduction to asbestos.
Plymouth has a lot of homes in that older group because of what happened to the city in 1941. The Blitz destroyed 3,754 houses and seriously damaged a further 18,398, according to the account on Wikipedia's Plymouth Blitz page. The city centre was then replanned under Abercrombie's Plan for Plymouth (published 1944) and rebuilt between 1948 and 1962, with new estates such as Ernesettle, Ham, Whitleigh, Honicknowle and Efford, according to Historic England and the local history sources it points to. Meanwhile some earlier terraces survived, including early 19th-century workers' housing in Devonport.
What to look at, by type of Plymouth home
Victorian and Edwardian terraces
Streets in Devonport, Stoke and Stonehouse. These houses have had a century or more of repairs and refits. Worth checking: later refits, flues, textured ceilings, old floor tiles, boiler and heater gaskets, lagging.
Post-war rebuilt areas and estates
Homes built or finished in the rebuilding years and after, such as around Efford, Whitleigh, Honicknowle and Ham. If it was built before 2000, check before drilling, ripping out or opening up. Look at soffits, panels, garage and shed roofs, and gutters.
Flats and converted houses
Purpose-built blocks have common parts (stairwells, plant rooms, lift shafts) that fall under the duty to manage. Ask the landlord or managing agent for the asbestos register before any work in your flat.
The list of materials is from HSE: where asbestos can be found and the right action.
Garages and sheds, whatever the age of the house
Corrugated cement roof sheets and cement gutters are the most common thing homeowners come across. HSE lists asbestos cement as used for roof sheets, wall cladding, downpipes, gutters and some flues. See our garage roof page.
Doing building work in Plymouth?
If you are knocking through, rewiring, refitting a kitchen or bathroom or opening up a loft, see our before-you-renovate checklist. If you own shops, offices or a block of flats, see landlords and businesses. And if you already have some, here is where the tips take it.
Not sure what you have?
Tell us about the property and the work in about two minutes. We pass your enquiry to one HSE-licensed local contractor, who will contact you to discuss it. No obligation, and we never sell your details to lists.