British Library

DCUK FM was tasked with environmentally cleaning asbestos contamination that was caused from roof sheets which were in poor condition and had been damaged over the years and the asbestos fibres had dispersed onto the book collections stored below. We were tasked first with decontaminating the collection of books within bespoke enclosures constructed and provided our own fully trained asbestos electricians, directly employed, to undertake all isolations and provide temporary and emergency lighting.

After the book collection had been successfully decontaminated and decanted to the dedicated storage area, we undertook the full decontamination of the entire remaining area within the Buildings. This typically consisted of BL personal belongings, furniture, photocopier machines, removal of carpet, floor tiles, ceiling tiles, suspended ceiling material, pipe insulation, dismantling of book racking, all of which was either decontaminated or disposed of as contaminated waste. The underside of asbestos lined roof sheets was then encapsulated with two coats of Idenden ET150.

As part of the environmental impact reduction, DCUK FM were also tasked with reducing the environmental waste flows that came from these works and as such all the racking systems were recycled, all non-asbestos waste was clearly identified and the waste streams were reported back to the British Library.

Summary of works:

• DCUK FM were employed by the Principle Contractor to carry out a pilot project within Building 3 to the Book Storage area.

• Our approach to this work was to engage with the Library Book care staff to agree a satisfactory process in decontaminating the books, papers, newspapers, etc. which were stored within the pilot area.

• Purpose built enclosures were constructed by ourselves to contain the contaminated book storage areas within certain areas, this ensured that the spread of asbestos contamination was contained & prevented staff or public being exposed.

• Viewing panels & CCTV were installed to allow book care & Health & Safety representative & the Health & Safety Executive to view all operations within the enclosures.

• Additional task lighting was installed to assist in making it easier to clean within the areas.