Asbestos Removal

Ryde

Hazardous Removal Company provides licensed asbestos testing, removal and disposal across the City of Ryde, covering Ryde, West Ryde and North Ryde. The three are usually lumped together, but for asbestos they are three quite different jobs, because they were built in three different eras.

The national ban is the fixed point. Asbestos was phased out of Australian building products through the 1980s and banned outright on 31 December 2003. Any home or workplace built or renovated before 1990 may contain it.

Asbestos removal in West Ryde

West Ryde is where we do the most residential work in this area, and its housing explains why.

The suburb grew around the Main North railway, which opened in 1886, and estate subdivision ran from the 1880s through to the 1930s. The Outlook Estate’s 124 sites were advertised in 1929 and the houses on them went up through the 1930s and 1940s. The result is a domestic building stock of Federation houses, Californian bungalows, Depression-era weatherboard and fibro cottages with corrugated iron roofs, and 1960s red brick housing.

Depression-era fibro is the material to watch. It is asbestos cement sheeting in almost every case, it is now ninety years old, and it turns up as external cladding, eaves, garage and shed walls, and internal linings in wet areas.

West Ryde has also been largely left alone by the apartment boom. Between 2016 and 2021 the City of Ryde added 9,685 private dwellings, almost 95% of them high density, but West Ryde accounted for only 145 of them. Around 40% of West Ryde dwellings are still separate houses. The original stock is still standing, and it still needs managing.

Asbestos removal in North Ryde

North Ryde remained rural until after the Second World War. Through the 1950s and 1960s the State Government purchased and subdivided much of the land for war service homes and public housing, which is precisely the period when asbestos cement was the standard, cheap, fast building material for large government housing programmes.

Around 57% of dwellings in the North Ryde area are separate houses, a much higher share than the LGA average of 39%. A 1950s or 1960s war service home in North Ryde should be assumed to contain asbestos somewhere until testing says otherwise, most commonly in eaves and soffit linings, wet area sheeting, and the original garage or shed.

Commercial asbestos in North Ryde and Macquarie Park

This is the part of the City of Ryde that most often needs us, and it is not residential at all.

CSIRO moved to North Ryde in 1961. The North Ryde Industrial Area and Macquarie University were established together through the mid-1960s. Macquarie Park was not even gazetted as a separate suburb until 5 February 1999. The upshot is that a very large share of the commercial and industrial building stock across the Macquarie Park Innovation District, which the City of Ryde says supports over 70,000 jobs, was built well before the 31 December 2003 ban.

That triggers a legal duty many building managers are not across. Whoever has management or control of a workplace must ensure an asbestos register is prepared and kept at that workplace. A register is only unnecessary where the building was constructed after 31 December 2003, no asbestos has been identified, and none is likely to be present. Where asbestos is identified, a written asbestos management plan is also required, and it must be reviewed at least every five years, or sooner if asbestos is removed, disturbed, sealed or enclosed.

We prepare registers and management plans, and we carry out removal in occupied commercial buildings outside business hours.

Asbestos removal in Ryde

Ryde itself holds some of the oldest surviving building fabric in Australia, including Addington on Victoria Road dating from about 1800, the 1837 police station designed by Mortimer Lewis, and Willandra from around 1845. Those predate asbestos entirely.

The catch with genuinely old houses is different. Asbestos in a Victorian or Federation home was almost never part of the original build. It arrived later, in a mid-century renovation, as a fibro bathroom lining, a laundry rebuild, a replacement roof on an outbuilding, or a new garage. If you own an old house in Ryde, the question is not when it was built, it is when it was last renovated.

Much of central Ryde is now high density, with 73% of dwellings around Top Ryde being flats in three storey or taller blocks. Recent apartment construction is post-ban and not a concern.

How much is 10 square metres, really?

The Commonwealth’s own guidance gives the most useful yardstick we have found: 10 square metres of non-friable asbestos is about four sheets of asbestos cement wall sheeting, or one wall of an average size bathroom.

That is the legal threshold for removing bonded asbestos without a licence in NSW, and it is much smaller than most people picture. A single garage wall or a full set of eaves will usually exceed it.

There is nowhere in the City of Ryde to dispose of asbestos

City of Ryde runs no asbestos collection service. Council’s own position is that all bonded asbestos waste must be securely packaged and transported to a landfill licensed to receive it, and that householders should engage a suitably licensed contractor for all asbestos work.

The pre-booked household CleanUp service, which gives residents up to five collections a year of 1.5 cubic metres each, specifically excludes asbestos and building materials, and is not available to commercial properties at all.

No EPA listed facility accepting household asbestos sits inside the City of Ryde. The nearest listed sites are Kimbriki at Terrey Hills, Lucas Heights Waste and Recycling Centre, Wetherill Park Resource Recovery Facility, and Horsley Park Waste Management Facility. The EPA’s own advice is to phone ahead, because many require a booking at least 24 hours in advance and none guarantee acceptance.

Asbestos may never go in a kerbside bin or an uncovered skip. If you transport more than 100 kilograms or more than 10 square metres from your own home, you must notify the EPA within 24 hours of delivering the load. Waste must be double wrapped in polythene of at least 200 microns, sealed with duct tape, and labelled.

What the law requires in New South Wales

Unlicensed removal. Permitted only for non-friable asbestos totalling 10 square metres or less. You must follow the Code of Practice, understand and advise others of the health risks, and provide asbestos awareness training. Friable asbestos can never be removed unlicensed, in any quantity.

Licence classes. Class B covers non-friable asbestos above 10 square metres. Class A covers friable and non-friable in any amount.

Five days notice. SafeWork NSW must be notified five calendar days before licensed asbestos removal work begins. That applies to any removal over 10 square metres of non-friable, and to all friable work.

Air monitoring. Class A work requires air monitoring using the membrane filter method before, during and where necessary after removal.

Clearance certificates. Class A work needs a clearance certificate from a licensed asbestos assessor, Class B from a competent person. In both cases the inspector must be independent, meaning they did not do the work and are not part of the business that did. Only after clearance can the property be reoccupied.

Frequently asked questions

Do you cover West Ryde and North Ryde as well as Ryde?
Yes, along with Meadowbank, Denistone, Melrose Park, Putney, East Ryde, Macquarie Park, Marsfield and Eastwood.

My West Ryde house is a 1930s fibro cottage. Is the cladding asbestos?
Very likely, given the era, but it needs a sample tested at a NATA accredited laboratory to be certain. Modern fibre cement looks similar and is harmless.

I manage a building in Macquarie Park. Do I need an asbestos register?
If it was built before 31 December 2003, yes. If it was built after that date and no asbestos has been identified or is likely, no. If you are unsure of the construction date, we can inspect and advise.

My Ryde house is Federation era, well before asbestos. Am I safe?
Not necessarily. In houses that old the asbestos usually arrived in a later renovation rather than the original build, so the renovation history matters more than the construction date.

Can I take asbestos to a City of Ryde facility?
There isn’t one. No EPA listed site accepting household asbestos sits inside the LGA, and Council’s CleanUp service specifically excludes it.

How much notice do you need for a commercial job?
Licensed removal requires five calendar days notice to SafeWork NSW before work starts, so factor that into your programme. We handle the notification.