Asbestos Removal in New Westminster, BC

New Westminster's compact urban grid includes rows of early-century heritage homes and 1950s-70s apartment buildings, many of which were built or renovated during the asbestos era.

New Westminster holds the distinction of being British Columbia's first capital city, incorporated in 1860. That history is written in the housing stock. The Brow of the Hill and Glenbrooke North neighbourhoods are full of Craftsman bungalows and two-storey character homes from the 1910s through 1940s, while the Queensborough area was built up in the post-war era with 1950s and 60s homes. Then came the apartment building boom of the late 1960s and 70s, which added dozens of concrete mid-rise and wood-frame walk-up buildings to the city's streetscapes. The result is one of the most diverse asbestos risk profiles of any city in Metro Vancouver.

In New Westminster's heritage homes, the asbestos picture is multi-layered. Many of the 1910s-1940s houses were built with original plaster walls and hardwood floors, then updated repeatedly. A 1920s home on Cumberland Street may have had a 1950s kitchen renovation with vinyl tile floors and stipple ceilings, followed by a 1970s bathroom addition with asbestos-containing wallboard. The plumbing and heating systems in these homes, originally steam-heated with boilers, are often jacketed with pipe insulation that needs careful assessment. We frequently find chrysotile pipe wrap on steam radiator systems in New Westminster's heritage homes.

The Uptown and Downtown apartment buildings from the late 1960s and 1970s are a significant source of abatement work as strata owners renovate and as older buildings are redeveloped. These walk-up concrete apartment blocks typically have acoustic ceiling finish throughout, vinyl composite floor tiles in hallways and common areas and asbestos-containing joint compound in the individual units. An abatement survey for a New Westminster strata renovation documents every material so the strata council and individual owners understand exactly what's in the building before work begins.

New Westminster's waterfront and industrial lands are also being redeveloped at a rapid pace. Older warehouses and commercial buildings along the Fraser River that predate the 1990s require full pre-demolition asbestos surveys before demolition permits are issued. We work with demolition contractors and project owners on New Westminster industrial properties and provide the documentation required for WorkSafeBC compliance.