Asbestos Removal & Surveys in Kent

Asbestos Specialists Across Kent

Chatham's naval dockyard fitted and refitted ships insulated with asbestos for well over a century. The Medway towns' cement, paper and engineering works used it heavily too.

Inter-war and post-war suburban housing fills the Medway towns and the commuter belt, with older seaside property along the Thanet coast. Most of it went up while asbestos was still in normal use.

The Medway towns have the county's densest mix of older industrial and naval property. The coast at Thanet and Folkestone has lots of Victorian and Edwardian houses long since split into flats. Both are common places to find insulating board in shared areas and asbestos cement in outbuildings.

Kent covers 13 local authority areas and about 844,590 properties, roughly 79.6% of them built before the 1999 ban, and the largest group of those was built between 1965 and 1982. A county that size averages out a lot of variation, so the stock in one town can look nothing like the next.

The most common property type in Kent is terraced houses, at about 28.1% of the stock, followed by semi-detached houses at 23%. In terraced housing built before the ban, extensions, outbuildings and replacement roofs are where asbestos cement and insulating board most often turn up.

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How it works in Kent

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Managing & Disposing of Asbestos in Kent

In Kent that duty runs across 13 separate council areas. The buildings it covers range from town centre shops and offices to public buildings and the shared parts of blocks of flats. What the duty to manage requires is set out in full in our guide for landlords and businesses.

Disposing of asbestos in Kent

Kent's recycling centres accept small quantities of household asbestos free of charge, no more than 5 sacks (or equivalent) per month, at all Kent sites except Sheerness. It must be double wrapped in heavy duty plastic bags or sheeting and secured with tape, not sticking out of the packaging, no more than 10 feet (3 metres) by 5 feet (1.5 metres), and kept damp. You must book a slot before visiting (same day or up to two weeks ahead) and bring your booking reference. Vans and vehicles over 2 metres high need a vehicle voucher to enter, and non-Kent residents, including Medway, pay £10 per visit. Wear protective gloves and a face mask and do not break or cut it. The asbestos container is kept locked, so ask a member of staff, who will ask you to declare it is from your own home and cannot help you lift it. For large quantities, or if you need it collected, use a licensed contractor. (council source, verified 2026-10-10)

Check the site's own page before you travel. Recycling centres are often closed on set weekdays, and often set extra rules for vans, pick-ups, trailers and visitors on foot, such as permits, size limits or no access on foot.

Asbestos waste is classed as hazardous (special) waste.So there are rules on how it's wrapped, labelled, carried and recorded. We set them out in full in our disposal guide.

Councils across Kent set their own rules for households. When we arrange the work, disposal is handled for you. For the rules where you live, see our asbestos disposal by council lookup, or check typical prices in the UK asbestos removal cost report.