New research by London Asbestos Help has found that the UK’s full fibre rollout is sending installation engineers into pre-2000 homes at scale, with no requirement to survey for asbestos before work begins.
The switch-off is driving a wave of installations
Openreach is targeting full fibre coverage to 25 million homes by the end of 2026, with copper services due to retire by January 2027. Around 6.6 million homes still need to migrate, many of them older urban properties where asbestos use was widespread before the UK ban in 1999.
A standard FTTP installation involves drilling through external walls, routing cables through ceiling voids and risers, and in some cases disturbing partition boards or floor coverings. In a pre-2000 property, any of those surfaces could contain asbestos-containing materials (ACMs).
The 2025 rule change most householders have missed
A 2025 update to asbestos licensing rules reclassified the mechanical scraping or drilling of Artex coatings as Notifiable Non-Licensed Work (NNLW). Artex was commonly mixed with chrysotile (white asbestos) during manufacture. Drilling near a coated ceiling during a cable run can release fibres without anyone in the room being aware of it.
A spokesperson for London Asbestos Help said awareness of the change remains very low. “Most people do not know their textured ceiling could be an issue, let alone that a broadband installation could disturb it.”
What the law already requires
Under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, a refurbishment and demolition survey is legally required before any intrusive work in a pre-2000 building. The duty sits with the person responsible for the premises. Openreach engineers do not carry out asbestos surveys, and householders are not prompted to arrange one before booking an installation.
“Installing full fibre is not the same as painting a wall,” the London Asbestos Help spokesperson said. “If an engineer is drilling into an older building and nobody has checked what is in the substrate, the legal duty has almost certainly not been met.”
The scale of the risk
A 2025 British Safety Council study analysed 400,000 properties and found 2.5 million individual ACMs. Asbestos still kills around 5,000 people per year in the UK. The materials most likely to be disturbed during a broadband installation, including wall cavities, ceiling coatings and pipe lagging, are among the most common locations for ACMs in domestic properties.
What to do before your installation
If your property was built before 2000, commission an R&D survey before your FTTP installation is booked. An accredited survey typically costs £250 to £500 and will identify ACMs in the areas likely to be disturbed. If a survey has identified ACMs, the installation engineer needs to know before work begins.
Landlords face the greatest exposure. Arranging a broadband installation in a pre-2000 property without a survey in place is likely to breach CAR 2012. The duty sits with the dutyholder, not the contractor.
The full fibre rollout is moving fast. For pre-2000 homes, an asbestos survey before installation is not optional and is in fact a legal requirement in most cases.
