DECONTAMINATION specialists have been called in to clear and dispose of asbestos found on the £80 million Rochester Riverside regeneration site.

It has emerged that white asbestos has been discovered during ground investigations of two layers of tarmac, which needed to be excavated to make way for the installation of drains.

The second tarmac layer – covering an area of 625 square metres and dating back more than 20 years - was found to contain crushed asbestos pipes and sheeting. The clearance operation is expected to take a week.

Steve Horton, project manager for site contractors Edmund Nuttall, said: “We have brought in specialist contractors to deal with this. They will take every precaution to ensure the material is made safe prior to its disposal to licensed premises off site. This will not significantly delay progress on site.”

The 84-acre Rochester Riverside site, which has outline planning permission for 2,000 homes, is a flagship Thames Gateway regeneration site jointly managed by Medway Council and the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA).

More than £80 million of public investment has gone into land assembly, site clearance and flood defences.

The first marketing phase – the release of about 17 acres of land for about 550 homes – has brought a strong response from potential developers.

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