University of East Anglia –  Chemistry & Biology Ceilings

Scope

Asbestech were employed to decontaminate AIB debris from all corridor ceilings in the Chemistry & Biology Faculty buildings under fully controlled conditions. The work included the full removal and disposal of all mmmf ceilings with a follow on ceiling replacement programme. The works were designed not to interface with the building users wherever possible.

Project

Following contract award our delivery team sat down with all the buildings key stakeholders to develop a phased programme of works. Although all works were to be completed at night and weekends there were many instances where we had to provide 24 hour access to laboratories which contained ongoing experiments. Once phasing had been agreed our delivery team put up signage 7 days in advance advising of the impending works in each location. We also organised weekly programme meetings with UEA to ensure that the phasing was regularly reviewed to take into account changing needs.

The works were complex as access scaffolding had to be erected in congested areas during ‘out of hours’ periods. We then built enclosures and put the ceiling voids under negative pressure and carried out a full environmental clean of the areas ensuring that any porous surfaces were either removed or encapsulated and then logged to report back to the client.

Following four stage clearance we would then remove the enclosures allowing for the access scaffold to be struck.

The programme allowed 7 days following the decontamination of an area for a condition survey of all services and equipment in the ceiling voids before we then replaced all the ceilings including lights and smoke sensors.

The project was completed on time with no Health & Safety or Environmental incidents.