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Islington Tribune - by PETER GRUNER
Published: 21 September 2007

Brian Mason

Neighbour’s fears over removal of asbestos roof

BRIAN Mason, who suffers from a life-threatening lung disease, was horrified when workmen dressed in breathing masks and protective suits demolished the asbestos roof of a garage next door.
This week Islington Council was investigating claims by residents in Cruickshank Street, Angel, that the removal of the asbestos might have posed a potential health hazard.
The owner of the site maintains all residents would have been informed about the work and that the asbestos company involved was professionally qualified.
The garage was being demolished to make way for a two-storey house being built on land between Mr Mason’s maisonette and a block of flats.
Residents fear the new house will overshadow their homes.
Council tenant Mr Mason, 68, a former plumber, suffers from severe emphysema and has already had half a lung removed.
“I was sitting in the garden last Friday and I couldn’t believe my eyes,” he said.
“These three men in white protective suits and breathing masks proceeded to remove an asbestos roof while I was sitting literally a few feet away.
“I’d not been told they were going to do it and neither had my wife or my neighbour upstairs.”
Mr Mason contacted Islington Council’s building control team, which is investigating the claims of a potential hazard.
Brian Potter, chairman of the Federation of Islington Tenants Associations, which is also investigating the demolition, believed that at the very least the contractors should have notified neighbours about the work.
“If you are working next door to people it’s a courtesy to explain what you are doing,” Mr Potter added. “That is particularly important if you are removing potentially lethal materials like asbestos.”
A spokesman for the owners of the site, Kalakah in Shoreditch, said their surveyor would have contacted all interested parties. “Those who removed the asbestos were properly qualified and would not have put neighbours in any danger,” he added.

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