Most asbestos statistics count deaths. This page counts something different, and rarely brought together in one place: what UK asbestos surveys actually find when a competent surveyor walks a building. The richest dataset on that question is the first annual data analysis report published in November 2022 by the Asbestos Testing and Consultancy Association (ATaC) and the National Organisation of Asbestos Consultants (NORAC), which pooled 128,761 building surveys carried out by UKAS-accredited inspection bodies in a single six-month window. Alongside it sit the Alpha Tracker "Damage" analysis from Start Software, drawn from more than three million laboratory samples, and the RICS Property Journal's breakdown of the same numbers.
The findings are stark and directly relevant to anyone who works on the fabric of older buildings: of the buildings surveyed, 78% contained asbestos, 71% of the individual items recorded showed some level of damage, and the large majority of that material would be non-licensed work if disturbed — precisely the work an awareness-trained workforce is most likely to encounter. One caveat matters throughout: ATaC, NORAC and Alpha Tracker are accredited industry bodies and software providers, not regulators. Their data comes from real commercial surveys, but the percentages describe the sample of buildings that were surveyed, not a census of the whole UK building stock.
Key asbestos survey facts and figures
- 128,761 buildings were surveyed for asbestos by 20 UKAS-accredited inspection bodies between 1 October 2021 and 31 March 2022, generating more than a million lines of data (ATaC/NORAC, 2022).
- 78% of buildings surveyed — 100,660 of them — were found to contain asbestos (ATaC/NORAC first annual report, 2022).
- 710,433 asbestos items were recorded across those surveyed buildings (NORAC Review of UK Asbestos Management, 2022).
- 71% of items were damaged: 507,612 of the recorded asbestos items had some level of damage noted at survey (NORAC/RICS, 2022–23).
- 63% of sites visited contained at least some damaged asbestos (ATaC first annual report, 2022).
- Nearly 78% of items identified would be non-licensed work if removed or disturbed — the awareness-trained workforce's domain (ATaC, 2022).
- 24% licensable: 120,629 of the damaged items would be classed as licensed work requiring an HSE-licensed contractor (RICS Property Journal, 2023).
- 3 million+ samples underpin the separate Alpha Tracker "Damage" analysis, including over a million positive asbestos samples by property type (Alpha Tracker, 2023–24).
Figures are the latest available as of July 2026. Unlike the annual disease statistics, the survey dataset is a landmark one-off study rather than a running series: no second annual ATaC/NORAC edition has appeared as of July 2026, so this page anchors its refresh to HSE's asbestos disease releases (each July and November) and monitors the NORAC news feed and the Alpha Tracker "Damage" hub for interim updates.
What percentage of UK buildings surveyed contain asbestos?
78% of the 128,761 buildings surveyed in the ATaC/NORAC dataset were found to contain asbestos — 100,660 buildings in total (ATaC/NORAC first annual report, surveys 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022). This is the figure that gets the most attention, and it is the figure most often misquoted, so it is worth being precise about what it does and does not say.
It says that of the buildings someone chose to survey in that window, roughly four in five had asbestos on site. It does not say that 78% of all UK buildings contain asbestos. Buildings get surveyed for a reason — usually because they are older, about to be refurbished, or non-domestic premises where the duty to manage applies — so the surveyed sample skews towards exactly the buildings most likely to contain asbestos. For genuine building-stock prevalence, our asbestos in homes statistics and the headline UK asbestos statistics page cover the whole stock; this page stays with what surveys report inside the buildings they cover.
Within the surveyed sample, the domestic split is telling. Of the 94,116 surveyed properties that were domestic, 85% contained asbestos — a higher hit rate than the all-buildings 78%, reflecting the age profile of the housing that gets surveyed. Across every property type, 1,016,783 items in total were reported by surveyors, 79% of which were confirmed or presumed to contain asbestos.
How much of the asbestos found in UK surveys is damaged?
71% of the individual asbestos items recorded in the ATaC/NORAC dataset had some level of damage noted at the point of survey — 507,612 of the 710,433 items catalogued (NORAC Review of UK Asbestos Management 2022; RICS Property Journal, 2023). Measured by site rather than by item, 63% of the buildings visited contained at least some damaged asbestos. However you slice it, damaged asbestos is the norm in surveyed buildings, not the exception.
That matters because condition, not mere presence, drives risk. Asbestos in good condition and left undisturbed releases few or no fibres; asbestos that is damaged, deteriorating or being worked on is where exposure happens. A survey finding seven in ten items already damaged is describing a building stock where the material is actively degrading, and where any maintenance or refurbishment can disturb it further. This is the practical case for the duty to manage: the register is a live record of condition that has to be re-inspected as materials decay.
| Survey measure | Figure | What it captures |
|---|---|---|
| Buildings surveyed | 128,761 | Sites surveyed Oct 2021–Mar 2022 |
| Buildings containing asbestos | 100,660 (78%) | Presence at building level |
| Asbestos items recorded | 710,433 | Individual ACMs catalogued |
| Items with some damage | 507,612 (71%) | Condition at survey |
| Sites with damaged asbestos | 63% of sites | Damage at building level |
| Damaged items that are licensable | 120,629 (24%) | Requires a licensed contractor |
Source: ATaC/NORAC first annual data analysis report (2022) and RICS Property Journal analysis (2023). Percentages describe the surveyed sample, not the national building stock.
What did the ATaC/NORAC asbestos report find?
The ATaC/NORAC first annual data analysis report, presented to Parliament in November 2022, consolidated 128,761 surveys from 20 UKAS-accredited inspection bodies into more than a million lines of anonymised data — the largest single picture of what UK asbestos surveys find. It was produced against the backdrop of the Work and Pensions Committee's April 2022 inquiry into the HSE's approach to asbestos management, which had criticised the near-total absence of a national dataset on where asbestos actually is and what condition it is in.
The report's headline findings, all framed as proportions of the surveyed sample, were:
- 78% of buildings surveyed (100,660) contained asbestos.
- 85% of the 94,116 surveyed domestic properties contained asbestos.
- 710,433 asbestos items were catalogued, of which 71% (507,612) showed some damage.
- 63% of sites contained at least some damaged asbestos.
- Nearly 78% of all identified items would be non-licensed work if disturbed; 24% of damaged items would be licensable.
The intent was that this would become an annual series, giving the sector — and the regulator — a moving picture of asbestos condition over time. In practice, no second edition has been published as of July 2026, so the 2022 report remains a landmark snapshot rather than a trend line. NORAC has since released interim commentary drawing on the Alpha Tracker "Damage" data, which is where the more recent reinspection findings come from.
How much asbestos survey work needs a licensed contractor?
Nearly 78% of the asbestos items identified in the ATaC/NORAC dataset would be non-licensed work if removed or worked on, while 24% of the damaged items — some 120,629 — would be classed as licensed work requiring an HSE-licensed contractor (ATaC first annual report, 2022; RICS Property Journal, 2023). This split is the single most important number for anyone deciding what training their workforce needs, so it is worth being clear about the three tiers.
UK asbestos work falls into licensed work (the highest-risk removal of materials such as sprayed coatings and pipe lagging, which only an HSE-licensed contractor may carry out), notifiable non-licensed work (NNLW, a middle tier that must be notified to the regulator), and ordinary non-licensed work (lower-risk tasks on materials such as asbestos cement, textured coatings and floor tiles). That the large majority of catalogued items sit in the non-licensed category is exactly why awareness training exists: the workers most likely to disturb asbestos are not licensed removal specialists but electricians, plumbers, joiners and maintenance staff doing everyday work in older buildings.
Awareness training does not qualify anyone to remove asbestos. Its purpose under Regulation 10 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 is to help those workers recognise asbestos, understand its risks, and know to stop and get advice before they disturb it. For the survey types that generate this data in the first place, see our guide to the types of asbestos survey explained.
Is the condition of surveyed asbestos improving over time?
No — the Alpha Tracker "Damage" reinspection analysis found no overall improvement in asbestos condition between its original May 2023 report and its November 2024 update. That analysis, produced by Start Software from the Alpha Tracker survey-management platform, draws on more than three million laboratory samples supplied by ten of the largest UK asbestos consultancies, including over a million positive asbestos samples classified by property type. It is a different, and much larger, evidence base than the ATaC/NORAC survey count, and it is designed specifically to track how the condition of the same materials changes when they are reinspected.
The November 2024 update highlighted the persistence of damaged asbestos in public-sector buildings reinspected year after year: around half of the hospital asbestos samples and nearly all of the school samples showed signs of damage, with no meaningful improvement over the period. Schools and hospitals are covered in depth elsewhere — see our asbestos in schools statistics and the sibling asbestos in hospitals statistics page — but the survey-level point stands on its own: reinspection is finding damage, not resolution. Materials logged as damaged in one survey are frequently still damaged, or worse, at the next.
| Dataset | Scale | Key survey finding |
|---|---|---|
| ATaC/NORAC first annual report (2022) | 128,761 buildings; 710,433 items | 78% of buildings, 71% of items with asbestos/damage |
| Alpha Tracker "Damage" (May 2023) | 3m+ samples; 1m+ positive | Baseline condition analysis by property type |
| Alpha Tracker update (Nov 2024) | Reinspections since May 2023 | No overall improvement in condition |
Source: ATaC/NORAC (2022); Alpha Tracker / Start Software "Damage" report (May 2023, updated November 2024) via NORAC.
What do survey findings say about duty-to-manage compliance?
The survey data exists because the duty to manage requires it — yet it also exposes how patchy compliance with that duty has been. Under Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, the duty holder for non-domestic premises must find out whether asbestos is present, record its location and condition, assess the risk, and keep the information up to date. A survey is the standard way to discharge that duty, and the ATaC/NORAC dataset is, in effect, a very large sample of duty-to-manage surveys.
The 2022 report emerged directly from concern that the duty was being under-enforced. HSE estimates that at least 300,000 non-domestic premises in Great Britain still contain asbestos, and the Work and Pensions Committee's April 2022 inquiry recommended a phased 40-year deadline for removing asbestos from all such premises, alongside a central register — a recommendation the Government did not adopt in its July 2022 response. Without systematic data collection, the Committee argued, neither duty holders nor the regulator could know whether the duty to manage was working; the ATaC/NORAC report was part of the sector's answer to that gap.
For the mechanics of what a duty holder actually has to do with survey findings — the register, the management plan, the re-inspection schedule — see our detailed guide to the duty to manage asbestos under Regulation 4, and the wider Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 framework. Where survey findings feed into HSE enforcement specifically under CAR 2012, our asbestos enforcement statistics page covers the notices and prosecutions.
How does survey data fit the wider asbestos picture?
Survey findings are the leading edge of a legacy that still kills thousands a year. The material catalogued in these surveys is the same material that, when disturbed decades ago, produced today's disease toll — 2,146 mesothelioma deaths in Great Britain in 2024 (HSE, November 2025). Survey statistics are, in that sense, a forward-looking measure: they show where the hazard sits now, before disturbance turns presence into exposure. The related schools figure — 80.9% of participating English schools reporting asbestos on site (DfE AMAP, 2019) — belongs to our schools statistics page and appears here as a cross-reference only. The survey dataset's own contribution is the condition-and-licensability picture: how much of what is out there is damaged, and how much is the everyday, non-licensed work that awareness training is built for.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of UK buildings surveyed contain asbestos?
In the ATaC/NORAC first annual data analysis (surveys from October 2021 to March 2022), 78% of the 128,761 buildings surveyed — 100,660 of them — were found to contain asbestos. Among the 94,116 surveyed domestic properties, the figure was 85%. These are proportions of the buildings that were surveyed, which skew towards older and pre-refurbishment premises, not a prevalence figure for the whole UK building stock.
How much of the asbestos found in UK surveys is damaged?
71% of the individual asbestos items catalogued in the ATaC/NORAC dataset — 507,612 of 710,433 items — had some level of damage recorded at survey, and 63% of the sites visited contained damaged asbestos. The Alpha Tracker "Damage" reinspection analysis found no overall improvement in condition between May 2023 and November 2024.
What did the ATaC/NORAC asbestos report find?
Presented to Parliament in November 2022, the report consolidated 128,761 building surveys from 20 UKAS-accredited inspection bodies into more than a million lines of data. Its headline findings were that 78% of buildings surveyed contained asbestos, 71% of the 710,433 recorded items were damaged, and nearly 78% of all items would be non-licensed work if disturbed. No second annual edition has been published as of July 2026.
How much asbestos work needs a licensed contractor?
In the ATaC/NORAC dataset, nearly 78% of identified asbestos items would be non-licensed work if disturbed, while 24% of the damaged items — about 120,629 — would be licensed work requiring an HSE-licensed contractor. The large non-licensed share is why asbestos awareness training targets general trades and maintenance workers rather than licensed removal specialists.
Are ATaC, NORAC and Alpha Tracker official regulators?
No. ATaC (the Asbestos Testing and Consultancy Association) and NORAC (the National Organisation of Asbestos Consultants) are accredited industry trade bodies, and Alpha Tracker is a survey-management software platform from Start Software. Their data comes from real commercial surveys carried out by UKAS-accredited inspection bodies, but they are not regulators. The regulator is the Health and Safety Executive.
For workers and duty holders whose jobs bring them into pre-2000 buildings — where the damaged, mostly non-licensed asbestos these surveys keep finding still sits — our CPD-certified Asbestos Awareness Course covers the training required under Regulation 10 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.
Seven in ten surveyed asbestos items are already damaged — and most of it is non-licensed work your team could disturb. Make sure they can recognise it first.
Explore the Asbestos Awareness Course →Related guides
- Types of asbestos surveys: management, refurbishment and demolition explained
- The duty to manage asbestos: registers, plans and Regulation 4
- Asbestos Statistics UK: Deaths, Exposure & Key Facts
- Asbestos in Homes Statistics UK
- Asbestos Enforcement Statistics UK (CAR 2012)
Sources & references
- ATaC — First Annual Data Analysis Report into Asbestos in UK Buildings (November 2022)
- NORAC — Review of UK Asbestos Management 2022
- NORAC — Alpha Tracker damage-data update, schools & hospitals reinspections (December 2024)
- Alpha Tracker / Start Software — "Damage" report hub (May 2023, updated November 2024)
- RICS Property Journal — Asbestos management practice found wanting (September 2023)
- UK Parliament, Work & Pensions Committee — The HSE's approach to asbestos management (April 2022)
- HSE — Mesothelioma statistics for Great Britain (context figure only, November 2025)
- DfE — Asbestos Management Assurance Process (AMAP) report (schools cross-reference only, 2019)
Mark writes about workplace health & safety, asbestos awareness and accredited online training for Asbestos Awareness Course, part of Online CPD Academy.