The retreat begins
HSE says the use of blue asbestos had stopped almost completely by about 1970. Installation of sprayed asbestos coatings then decreased progressively through the 1970s. Other asbestos-containing products, however, remained widely used.
This is where the history starts to resemble the industry we recognise today: greater awareness, tighter controls and increasingly specialist work around asbestos.
The product range narrows quickly
- After 1980: installation of AIB declined sharply.
- 1985: HSE records AIB installation as having ceased and sprayed asbestos coatings becoming legally prohibited.
- 1 January 1986: the Asbestos (Prohibitions) Regulations 1985 came into operation, prohibiting crocidolite and amosite subject to the regulations' provisions.
- About 1988: HSE records asbestos paints and varnishes as having ceased.
The final products disappear from new use
- 1992: HSE records asbestos-containing decorative plasters as legally prohibited.
- 1999: HSE records asbestos-cement installation as prohibited.
- 24 November 1999: the 1999 prohibition amendments came into force, completing the general prohibition of remaining asbestos use, including chrysotile, subject to limited historic exceptions in the legislation.
1999 is the short answer. 2000 is the useful building date.
HSE says asbestos may still be present in any building built or refurbished before 2000. It also cautions that historical cessation dates are only guidelines because existing asbestos-containing stock may have been used after those dates.
Banned doesn't mean gone.
The prohibition stopped new use; it did not remove asbestos already incorporated into Britain's building stock. Existing ACMs may remain in place where they can be safely managed, or may require appropriate removal when condition, disturbance or planned work demands it.
Modern surveying is therefore less about asking whether asbestos was once used and more about establishing what is actually present, where it is, its condition, and what people intend to do around it.
Which is where we come in. Just ask Scott.
Sources used for the chronology: HSE HSG227; current HSE asbestos guidance; the Asbestos (Prohibitions) Regulations 1985; and the 1999 prohibition amendments. The dates are historical guidance, not a method of identifying or dating an individual ACM.