Asbestos Register for Marine Laboratory Campus buildings: EIR release

Information requested

The following information in relation to all buildings on the Scottish Government’s, Marine Laboratory Campus, Victoria Road, Aberdeen for the period 21-Nov-2002 to 13-Dec-2023:

1. The entire Asbestos Register and confirmation if there are any gaps during this period.

2. A record of all testing for Asbestos that was undertaken, the findings of that testing and confirmation if (i) no testing was undertaken or (ii) there are any gaps in the testing, during this period.

3. The Asbestos Management Plan (AMP) for the period and confirmation if (i) there was no AMP or (ii) there are any gaps, during this period.

You asked for all information to be provided to you in an electronic format and sent by email.

Response

1. Asbestos Register
Please find attached Asbestos Registers for all buildings located at the Marine Laboratory Campus, Victoria Road, Aberdeen – except for the Ellis Building.

Asbestos Registers are updated with relevant information as it becomes available. Once a Register is updated it becomes the current version which supersedes all previous versions. Superseded Asbestos Registers are not retained.

There is no Asbestos Register for the Ellis building as it was constructed after Asbestos became a prohibited construction material and consequently has no Asbestos Containing Material (ACM). The Scottish Government’s file management system only requires documents to be retained for 10 years. The earliest of the Asbestos Registers attached dates from 2018. There are no gaps as these are the latest files and any older, superseded, versions have not been retained.

Prior to 1 April 2009, Fisheries Research Services who managed the campus was merged with the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency and the Scottish Government Marine Directorate to form Marine Scotland, a Directorate of the core Scottish Government. No historical maintenance records were provided prior to this date.

The attached Asbestos Registers have been redacted for security reasons.

2. Testing for Asbestos
Testing for Asbestos is undertaken when potential ACMs are uncovered as a result of R&D surveys or other work.

The attached R&D surveys have been redacted for security reasons.

3. Asbestos Management Plan
Please find attached the Asbestos Management Plan (AMP) that covers all of the buildings at the Marine Laboratory Campus.

The earliest version of the AMP that is still available dates from 2012. The Scottish Government’s file management system only requires documents to be retained for 10 years, so anything dated before 2012 is no longer available.

The AMP is a living document and the Scottish Government’s Facilities Management provider is required to ensure that it is kept up to date. This is done in two ways:

1. the undertaking of regular monitoring of known asbestos. This monitoring is undertaken as a visual inspection during the contractor’s Planned Preventative Maintenance activities. Prior to 2022 this monitoring was not recorded, meaning that no records are available, but a pro forma to formally record inspections and update the AMP has now been introduced.

2. the undertaking of Refurbishment and Demolition (R&D) surveys prior to work commencing on a building that is suspected of containing asbestos. The results of R&D surveys are stored beside Asbestos Registers and the AMP.

In order to ensure that our records provide a comprehensive and accurate account of the presence of Asbestos Containing Materials (ACM) across the Marine Laboratory estate, the AMP was refreshed in 2022.

The attached Asbestos Management Plan has been redacted for security reasons.

Due to the size of the files we are unable to upload the documents referred to above. If you wish to consider, please contact us at the address below and we will be happy to provide.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.