The school summer holidays are the busiest weeks of the year for asbestos removal in the education sector — the one window when licensed work can run in empty buildings without disrupting teaching or safeguarding. This summer, Innov8 UK Group has several school asbestos projects programmed across the North West, with two headline jobs in Warrington and Widnes and a series of smaller education-sector works alongside them.
Our most technically demanding project this summer is at a high school in Warrington: the removal of approx. 140 linear metres of asbestos thermal pipe insulation from an underground duct system running beneath the school’s main corridor.
Asbestos thermal pipe insulation is one of the highest-risk asbestos materials and always requires an HSE-licensed contractor. Here it will be removed using the wet injection method — saturating the lagging with wetting agent injected under controlled pressure so fibres cannot become airborne during removal.
The duct itself adds a second layer of complexity: confined-space working. The project runs with strategic emergency and rescue procedures developed specifically for the duct — planned escape routes, communication protocols and trained standby rescue arrangements, all documented in the plan of work before anyone enters.
This project follows recent pipe failures and flooding within the duct system, and a full heating upgrade follows immediately behind our works. We have worked closely with the school’s maintenance manager and headteacher for several weeks — regular meetings and ongoing liaison — to make sure the removal runs exactly to programme, because mechanical contractors are scheduled straight in after our clearance. When the heating engineers arrive, the duct will be clean, cleared and certified.
Next up is a primary school in Widnes, where we are removing asbestos insulating board (AIB) ceiling tiles throughout the kitchen, canteen and stores areas — licensed removal under full enclosure, scheduled meticulously around the school’s plans to facilitate a kitchen upgrade during the break.
Like every school project we deliver, both jobs come with the full documentation package: ASB5 notification, RAMS, air monitoring, independent four-stage clearance and waste consignment notes — everything the school, LA and insurers need on file.
Alongside Warrington and Widnes, several smaller education-sector works run through the summer break. It’s a sector we know inside out — occupied-site discipline, safeguarding awareness, holiday programming and handover on the date promised. Read more about our work in schools and education, our licensed asbestos removal service, or see how an unannounced HSE inspection rated our standards on a recent school-adjacent project.
