Southwark Council– Asbestos Consultancy Contract

Value: £420,000 (per annum) – £1.65 Million Total contract value

Armstrong-York is required to provide our services in council owned corporate buildings and depots owned by the Council and housing residential stock. The London Borough of Southwark are one of the biggest landlords in the country, owning nearly half the total area of the borough and are responsible for almost 55,000 domestic premises. There are also a high number of corporate buildings and depots owned by the Council. Armstrong-York provide services in conjunction with the appointed licensed removal contractor to ensure asbestos remediation works are carried out in a safe and controlled manner. Access on-site is dependent on the specific instruction and within one of the following timescales:

– Within 4 hours (emergency basis) of instruction.
– Within 72 hours of instruction.
– As soon as reasonably practicable, after liaison with the licensed asbestos removal contactor and after the 14-day notification period to the HSE.

Armstrong-York arranges access through liaison with the licensed asbestos removal contractor, through the London Borough of Southwark asbestos compliance team or other contacts within the council. This is in accordance to the terms and conditions of the contract. The asbestos compliance team inform us via email of works required with a full address and contact details for access. A description of the services provided by Armstrong York to Southwark Council includes:

• Taking air monitoring (sampling), leakage and smoke tests at premises;
• Analyse the results of the air samples;
• Issuing a final test certificate when compliant with HSG 248
• Monitoring the asbestos removal process including auditing the Licensed Contractor’s Method Statement and site operations for the removal or encapsulation of the asbestos.
• Armstrong-York are responsible for reporting any concerns or non-compliance with the Council’s Code of practice for the Management of Asbestos
• Works are to be undertaken to corporate buildings and depots owned by Southwark Council as well as in residential properties
• Armstrong-York provide asbestos awareness training for the Council’s staff
• Advice and expert witness in litigation cases
• Telephone advice to tenants and occupiers
• Provide an emergency service 24 hours a day 365 days a year
• We have named and approved operatives for this work
• Works to be carried out according to UKAS to ISO17025 and HSG 248
• All work will be undertaken with discretion and due regard to the emotive nature of asbestos.
• Suitable and sufficient P.P.E/R.P.E. must be provided and maintained
Armstrong-York has appointed a named Person in Charge, to whom directions can be given by LBS and who is empowered to act upon such directions. Armstrong-York’s Person in Charge is responsible for all supervisory and analytical staff for the duration of this Contract to ensure adequate supervision during the site work, they give their whole time respectively to the supervision of the service and are able to receive and act promptly upon all instructions issued.
Armstrong-York is required on a daily basis, to update the Council’s computer system via the terminal/citrix key provided. The information to be processed includes the Order number, location or address, priority code, a full description of the works, time and date order received, time and date order completed or anticipated to be completed, detailed valuation of the works carried out including variations and information relating to special circumstances such as elderly or at-risk occupiers, disabled occupiers or dangerous animals affecting access etc. Armstrong-York are required to record the “completion” of Orders on the Housing Department’s computer system in accordance with the following time periods:-
a) Emergency Orders: Within twelve normal working hours
b) All other Orders: by the end of the next normal working day

Armstrong-York is required to record on iWorld within two working days, any variations to the original order value. Armstrong-York can only make ONE application for variations to the original order. A PDF version of each monitoring report is made available to the client and to the licensed asbestos removal contractor within the timeframe specified. All air monitoring reports are placed on our web portal for viewing by LBS via a secure log in. The format of certification follows the requirements laid out in HSG 248.

Armstrong-York’s analysts hold the BOHS P403 and P404 qualifications and have commensurate experienced in undertaking including air sampling, fibre counting, clearance testing and the issuing of certificates of reoccupation as required. Individuals undertaking asbestos air monitoring and clearance works must be shown to be competent through site auditing. Individuals carrying out the works must have

at least 3 years’ industry experience. Analysts must have a full working knowledge of the requirements of HSG248 and HSG247. Training is carried out in a manner in accordance to regulation 10 of the CAR-2012, HSG248 and in-house approved standards. Armstrong-York are required to quality assure all of our work and carry out 5% site audits of all clearances conducted. A list of sites audited is presented to LBS on a quarterly basis. A desk-top review of all reports received is conducted by the Asbestos Compliance Team.

Armstrong-York has recently re tendered for the Southwark Council Analytical contract (Contract B) through a competitive tendering exercise and is pleased to announce that we were appointed as the sole provider to provide our analytical services for a further five years.