Defra Building, Addlestone
Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
8 weeks
Surrey, KT15 3NB
Location & Overview
Defra is the government department responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries, and rural communities. The facilities at Defra were used to produce vaccines.
Work, Challenges & Solutions
The building was a poorly conditioned concrete structure, which contained external asbestos insulation boards, together with insulation debris, asbestos paper linings and thermal insulation in the basement and plant room, all of which were removed under fully controlled conditions.
The biggest challenge was working around sensitive scientific equipment in live asbestos enclosures and disruption to production needed to be kept to a minimum, therefore planning procedures were key.