Soil & Land Asbestos Testing in Perth

Many Perth residential lots have had fill brought in at some point, sometimes from demolished house sites or commercial demolition projects where the origin and composition of the fill was not documented at the time. Imported fill from those types of sources is one of the most common pathways through which asbestos fragments end up in residential soil across the Perth metropolitan area, and the contamination remains in the ground until it is tested and identified.

Land with a history of industrial or commercial use can contain buried building materials, including asbestos from structures that were demolished in place and the rubble pushed into the ground or used as fill rather than being properly removed and disposed of. This is a consistent finding on brownfield redevelopment sites and former factory, depot or service station land across Perth and regional WA.

Testing before a subdivision is formally registered and individual lots are created confirms that the land is free of contamination before parcels are offered to buyers who expect to receive clean and unencumbered land. A contamination finding after lots are registered and sold creates a complex, costly and time-consuming remediation, disclosure and liability problem for the developer.

Farm sheds, implement stores and other rural outbuildings were frequently constructed from corrugated asbestos cement sheeting across WA during the mid-twentieth century. On many rural properties, these structures were demolished in place when they reached the end of their life, with material buried in the surrounding area or scattered across the paddock rather than being formally removed. This contamination often remains undiscovered for decades until the land changes use.

Where a neighbouring property or adjacent block has had older buildings demolished in the past, asbestos fragments can migrate into adjacent soil through fill redistribution, stormwater movement and physical proximity over time. Testing the area near the boundary confirms whether that migration has occurred and to what extent the adjacent property has been affected by the historic demolition activity.

Significant landscaping projects, cut-and-fill earthworks and retaining wall construction disturb soil to considerable depth and move it across large areas of the site. Where there is any reasonable possibility that the ground may contain asbestos from prior use or fill, testing before the earthworks programme begins is a straightforward and cost-effective step compared with encountering a contamination discovery mid-project.

Properties located adjacent to or downstream of historical waste disposal sites, tips or dumps that accepted demolition and construction waste before proper disposal regulations were in place may have been affected by asbestos-containing fragments carried by stormwater, fill redistribution or general site activity from the disposal area into the surrounding land.