Britain still removes asbestos from its buildings every working day, and a specialist industry exists to do it safely. This page pulls together the supply-side facts about that industry — how many contractors hold a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) licence, how many remediation businesses trade in the UK, how large the market is, and what HSE's own fieldwork measured about fibre exposure inside the licensed workforce. The counted figures come from the HSE public register of licensed asbestos removal contractors (maintained by its Asbestos Licensing Unit), the Office for National Statistics (ONS) UK Business Counts series on Nomis, and HSE research report RR1176; the market-size numbers are drawn from commercial research houses IBISWorld and Plimsoll, and are flagged as such throughout.
The industry exists for one blunt reason: asbestos can be present in any UK building constructed or refurbished before the year 2000, and the import and use of all asbestos was banned only by 1999. Around 5,000 cancer deaths a year in Great Britain are attributed to past asbestos exposure — the grim public-health backdrop against which the removal trade operates. For the national disease and workforce headline totals, see our UK asbestos statistics page; this page stays firmly on the supply side.
Key asbestos removal industry facts and figures
- ~334 contractors held a current HSE asbestos-removal licence (active licence holders, England) as of 8 May 2026.
- Updated weekly: the HSE register of licensed asbestos removal contractors is refreshed every week, so the licence-holder count can be recounted at any time.
- 320 → 1,310: UK "remediation and other waste management services" enterprises (SIC 39000) rose from 320 in 2010 to 1,310 in 2025.
- £1.6 billion: the UK Hazardous Waste Collection & Treatment industry — of which asbestos is the largest product segment — in 2025 (IBISWorld, commercial estimate).
- 7.6% a year: that industry's compound annual growth rate over the five years to 2025 (IBISWorld).
- 445 companies: the number of leading UK asbestos-removal contractors assessed in Plimsoll's industry analysis (commercial research).
- Up to 3 years: the standard duration of an HSE asbestos licence — but only 1 year where no licensable work was done in the previous period.
- 4 of 8 sites: the number of licensed removal sites where the highest personal air measurement exceeded the 0.1 f/ml control limit in HSE's RR1176 study.
Figures are the latest available as of July 2026, and this page is updated when new data is released — the HSE register is recountable at any time (it is updated weekly), the Nomis SIC-39000 enterprise count refreshes annually each autumn, HSE's asbestos-death context figure updates every July, and the market-size estimates roll with new IBISWorld and Plimsoll editions.
How many licensed asbestos removal contractors are there in the UK?
Around 334 contractors held a current HSE asbestos-removal licence as of 8 May 2026 — that figure is the count of active licence holders in England, taken directly from the HSE register by the National Register of Asbestos Contractors (NORAC), which mirrors the register on a live map. It is the single most citable industry number on this page, because it is counted rather than estimated, and it carries a date.
Two caveats matter. First, the scope: NORAC's mapped count is England-only, so it is not a full Great Britain or UK total — Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland licence holders sit outside it. Northern Ireland runs a separate licensing list through HSENI. Second, the register moves. The HSE Asbestos Licensing Unit updates the public register weekly, so the count can be recounted at any time and will drift by a handful either way as licences are granted, renewed, surrendered or refused. Treat "around 334" as a snapshot, not a fixed constant.
A licence is legally required only for the highest-risk work — spraying, lagging, and most work on asbestos insulating board (AIB) above short-duration thresholds. A far larger population of general builders, plumbers, electricians and maintenance firms carry out lower-risk non-licensed and notifiable non-licensed work without appearing on this register at all, which is why the licensed-contractor count is much smaller than the total number of businesses that touch asbestos in some form.
How many asbestos remediation businesses trade in the UK?
The number of UK "remediation activities and other waste management services" enterprises (Standard Industrial Classification code 39000) rose from 320 in 2010 to 1,310 in 2025, according to the ONS UK Business Counts series published on Nomis. SIC 39000 is broader than asbestos removal alone — it also captures land remediation, decontamination and specialist waste clean-up — but asbestos remediation is a core part of it, and the series is the best official proxy for how the sector has grown.
The trajectory is one of near-continuous expansion. The enterprise count grew every year from 2010 through 2023, when it reached 1,305, dipped slightly to 1,295 in 2024, then edged back up to 1,310 in 2025. In other words, the population of remediation businesses has roughly quadrupled in fifteen years — a striking contrast to the widespread assumption that asbestos work is a shrinking, legacy trade.
| Year | SIC 39000 enterprises (UK) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 320 | Baseline |
| 2023 | 1,305 | Rising every year since 2010 |
| 2024 | 1,295 | Slight dip |
| 2025 | 1,310 | Latest — back above 2023 |
Source: ONS / Nomis UK Business Counts, enterprises in SIC 39000 (remediation activities and other waste management services). The count is refreshed each autumn, so the newest year should be re-pulled at each update.
How big is the UK asbestos removal and remediation market?
The UK Hazardous Waste Collection & Treatment industry — of which asbestos is the largest single product segment — was worth an estimated £1.6 billion in 2025, according to the commercial research house IBISWorld. That figure is the softest of the headline numbers on this page: it is a paywalled market estimate, not a government statistic, and it covers a wider category than asbestos alone. It is quoted here as the best available indicator of scale, with that caveat stated plainly.
On IBISWorld's estimates, the industry grew at a compound annual rate of 7.6% over the five years to 2025, and it forecast a further 4.2% expansion the following year. The biggest players named in that category are Biffa, Veolia and Viridor — large, diversified waste-management groups rather than pure-play asbestos specialists, which is a reminder that asbestos removal often sits inside broader hazardous-waste operations.
A second commercial source, Plimsoll, focuses more tightly on the trade: its UK asbestos-removal analysis assesses 445 leading contractor companies. Across those tracked contractors, Plimsoll reported average market growth of 5.7% in its latest edition, with 23 companies growing by more than 10% and 53 rated as serial loss-makers — a portrait of a fragmented sector where healthy growth and financial distress sit side by side. As with IBISWorld, these are commercial-research figures published behind a paywall, cited here from the firm's own free summaries and labelled accordingly.
| Measure | Figure | Source (type) |
|---|---|---|
| Hazardous waste market size, 2025 | £1.6 billion | IBISWorld (commercial) |
| 5-year CAGR to 2025 | 7.6% | IBISWorld (commercial) |
| Forecast next-year growth | 4.2% | IBISWorld (commercial) |
| Leading contractors assessed | 445 companies | Plimsoll (commercial) |
| Average contractor growth, latest year | 5.7% | Plimsoll (commercial) |
Source: IBISWorld "Hazardous Waste Collection & Treatment in the UK" and Plimsoll "Asbestos Removal Contractors". Both are commercial, paywalled market-research products; figures are headline summaries and are the most replaceable numbers on this page.
Who regulates asbestos removal and how long does a licence last?
The Health and Safety Executive regulates licensed asbestos removal, and an HSE licence is a "permit to work" granted for a limited period — normally up to three years, but only one year for a holder who did no licensable work in the previous period. HSE's Asbestos Licensing Unit assesses each application on the applicant's competence, management systems and track record, and can grant, refuse, or attach conditions to a licence.
The three-year maximum is not automatic. A shorter grant of one year is used where the unit wants to review a contractor more frequently — for example a new entrant, a firm with performance concerns, or a holder who did not carry out licensable work during the previous licence period. The licence is a legal precondition for the highest-risk work under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012: work on sprayed coatings and lagging, and most work on AIB above short-duration limits. Our guide to the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 sets out how the licensable, notifiable and non-licensed tiers are defined, and the types of asbestos survey that must precede the work.
Enforcement of these regulations — prosecutions and notices served on contractors and duty holders — is covered separately on our asbestos enforcement statistics page, and is not repeated here.
What did HSE measure about fibre exposure in the licensed workforce?
For its research report RR1176, HSE scientists monitored eight licensed removal sites between 2016 and 2019 (the report was published in 2022), and the highest individual personal air measurement exceeded the 0.1 fibres/ml control limit on four of those eight sites. The study — "Asbestos exposures to workers in the licensed asbestos removal industry" — is the most detailed independent look at what fibre concentrations real removal operatives actually encounter behind the enclosure, and it is a sobering read.
The severity tracked the material being removed. On the single site removing sprayed coating — a high-asbestos-content friable material — about 80% of personal exposure measurements were above the control limit. That is the reason spray and lagging work sits at the top of the licensing regime: even inside a controlled enclosure, with trained operatives and respiratory protective equipment, the potential for high fibre release is real. The control limit is not a "safe" threshold but a maximum permitted airborne concentration; respiratory protection is designed to keep the dose actually inhaled far below it.
The practical lesson RR1176 draws out is that engineering controls, enclosure integrity and the correct grade of RPE matter enormously, and that the highest-risk materials demand the tightest discipline. For the wider clinical picture of what asbestos exposure does over decades, see our guide to asbestos exposure, risks and symptoms.
Is the UK asbestos removal industry still growing?
Yes — on every available measure the sector has grown, not shrunk, over the past decade and a half. The ONS enterprise count roughly quadrupled from 320 in 2010 to 1,310 in 2025; IBISWorld put five-year growth at 7.6% a year to 2025 with a further 4.2% forecast; and Plimsoll recorded 5.7% average growth among the leading contractors it tracks. The intuition that asbestos is a fading problem is not borne out by the supply-side data.
The drivers are structural. Every pre-2000 building is a potential source of work, and the UK's ageing building stock is entering an intensive phase of refurbishment, retrofit and demolition — decarbonisation retrofits, school and hospital rebuilding programmes, and the redevelopment of post-war commercial estates all disturb materials that have sat undisturbed for decades. Because the duty to manage asbestos requires that these materials be found, assessed and, where necessary, removed before that work proceeds, demand for licensed and non-licensed removal is tied to the pace of construction and refurbishment rather than to any decline in the amount of asbestos in place. On present trends, the industry is a growth sector for years to come.
Frequently asked questions
How many licensed asbestos removal contractors are there in the UK?
Around 334 contractors held a current HSE asbestos-removal licence as of 8 May 2026, based on NORAC's count of active licence holders in England drawn directly from the HSE register. Because the register is England-only in that map and is updated weekly by HSE, the figure is a snapshot that can be recounted at any time; it excludes Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland holders.
How big is the UK asbestos removal and remediation industry?
The UK Hazardous Waste Collection & Treatment industry — in which asbestos is the largest product segment — was valued at an estimated £1.6 billion in 2025 by IBISWorld, growing at 7.6% a year over the previous five years. That is a commercial, paywalled estimate covering a wider category than asbestos alone. The number of UK remediation enterprises (SIC 39000) rose from 320 in 2010 to 1,310 in 2025 on official ONS data.
Who regulates asbestos removal contractors in the UK and how long does an HSE licence last?
The Health and Safety Executive, through its Asbestos Licensing Unit, licenses and regulates the highest-risk asbestos removal work under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. A licence is a permit to work granted for a limited period — normally up to three years, but only one year for a holder who carried out no licensable work in the previous period.
Is the UK asbestos removal industry still growing?
Yes. The official ONS enterprise count for SIC 39000 roughly quadrupled between 2010 and 2025, and commercial estimates from IBISWorld (7.6% a year to 2025) and Plimsoll (5.7% average growth among tracked contractors) point the same way. Ongoing refurbishment, retrofit and demolition of pre-2000 buildings keeps demand rising rather than falling.
Do you need an HSE licence to remove all asbestos?
No. A licence is required only for higher-risk work — sprayed coatings, lagging and most work on asbestos insulating board above short-duration limits. Lower-risk non-licensed and notifiable non-licensed work, such as removing bonded cement sheets or a small area of intact textured coating, can be done by trained, competent workers without a licence, which is why the licensed-contractor count is far smaller than the total number of firms doing asbestos work.
For the maintenance, construction and refurbishment workers who encounter — but do not deliberately remove — asbestos in pre-2000 buildings, our CPD-certified Asbestos Awareness Course covers the Category A training required under Regulation 10 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.
The removal industry keeps growing because the asbestos is still there. Make sure your team can recognise it before they disturb it.
Explore the Asbestos Awareness Course →Related guides
- Asbestos Statistics UK: Deaths, Exposure & Key Facts
- Asbestos Enforcement Statistics UK: CAR 2012 Prosecutions & Notices
- Asbestos Waste Statistics UK: Tonnages & Disposal
- The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 explained
- Types of asbestos surveys: management, refurbishment and demolition explained
Sources & references
- HSE — Asbestos licensing (Asbestos Licensing Unit) and the public register of licensed contractors
- HSE — Public register of licensed asbestos removal contractors (updated weekly)
- NORAC — Live count of HSE-licensed asbestos contractors (334 active holders, England, 8 May 2026)
- ONS / Nomis — UK Business Counts, enterprises in SIC 39000 (remediation and other waste management services)
- HSE Research Report RR1176 — Asbestos exposures to workers in the licensed asbestos removal industry (fieldwork 2016–2019, published 2022)
- HSE — How the asbestos licensing system operates (licence scheme and duration)
- IBISWorld — Hazardous Waste Collection & Treatment in the UK (£1.6bn market; commercial research)
- Plimsoll — Asbestos Removal Contractors industry analysis (445 companies; commercial research)
- HSE — Mesothelioma statistics for Great Britain (context figure only)
Mark writes about workplace health & safety, asbestos awareness and accredited online training for Asbestos Awareness Course, part of Online CPD Academy.