Asbestos in DOT headquarters
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• While cutting back on the nation's roadbuilding programme the Department of Transport is nevertheless giving itself a new home in London this summer.
But any irritated drivers thinking of turning up at the old building to berate Brian Mawhinney should take care— the Marsham Street site is stuffed with highly dangerous asbestos.
It will all be removed in a few months, we are assured, under tightly controlled conditions, but it might be best to give the place a wide berth just in case.
Even DOT staff might want to proceed cautiously, as their new Horseferry Road office is just round the corner from Marsham Street. Concerns for their safety in the catastrophic event of fibres escaping into the atmosphere even prompted a House of Lords question.
Baroness Steadman demanded assurances about safety, saying: "Otherwise there is not much point in moving staff From what is supposedly a structurally unsafe building into modern new offices where they are dependent on the ventilation system in order to gain air." Quite so.