Aspect Contracts has reported one of its strongest trading quarters to date. In a period that saw orders in excess of £2m placed in the week before Christmas alone, we have been awarded a £1.3m void cleaning contract by GlaxoSmithKline; a £0.25m deal with the London Borough of Lewisham for our new water testing division; and a £0.2m environmental clean and decontamination for the Chatham Historic Docks. We are also undertaking substantial surveying projects for Arlington Homes, the London Borough of Waltham Forest and the Ministry of Defence, the latter for work in Cyprus. Moat Housing Group has appointed us for both surveying and removal and we’ve further consolidated our local authority credentials with the award by Waverly and Guildford Borough Councils of two, 3-year term removal contracts.

Sampling and inspections is one of the fastest growing parts of the Aspect business, driven largely by our growing status in the insurance repair market. We have just signed a contract with one of the UK’s leading loss adjustors, Cunningham Lindsey, further expanding our reach into the sector. The division recently reached the £1m revenue milestone and it has touched the heights of 1000 inspections a month on a number of occasions.  As part of our market push, we have also produced an informative DVD that insurers can use to explain to policyholders what happens when a claim is made and asbestos has to be ruled in/out of the equation.

Aspect is confident of trading remaining strong throughout 2006 but, in company with the rest of the industry, it will also be focusing efforts on fighting the proposed HSE move to take textured coatings off the notified list. Managing director, Grant Beglan, has been at the forefront of both Aspect’s and ARCA’s lobbying against any such change, believing it to be risky, impractical and, in Grant’s words, ‘the thin end of the wedge’.