Asbestos Diagnosis Lausanne

Lausanne: a built heritage affected by asbestos

Lausanne is the capital of the canton of Vaud and the fourth largest city in Switzerland. Its built heritage is of exceptional richness and diversity, reflecting several centuries of urban development on a hilly terrain descending towards Lake Geneva. This architectural diversity translates into very differentiated asbestos risks depending on the districts and periods of construction.

The Old Town, with its medieval lanes and bourgeois houses from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, is not in the front line for asbestos in the strict sense, but successive renovations carried out between 1950 and 1985 introduced asbestos-containing materials into old buildings: suspended ceilings, floor tiles, pipe insulation. The Cité sector, with the cathedral and the historic buildings, concentrates a significant proportion of this renovated heritage.

Residential districts developed in the 1960s–1980s — Chailly, Borde, Prélaz, Montchoisi — concentrate rental buildings and villas from the period of maximum asbestos use. The Sébeillon district and the industrial zones of Prélaz illustrate another profile: warehouses, workshops and business buildings from the 1950s–1980s with fibre cement roofs, cladding and asbestos-containing industrial floors. Ouchy, the lakeside district, groups hotels and residences, some of which were constructed or renovated during this critical period.

Which buildings are concerned in Lausanne?

Lausanne’s diversity implies very different risk profiles depending on the sectors.

Residential buildings

The Chailly, Borde, Prélaz and Montchoisi districts concentrate rental buildings constructed between 1960 and 1980. Vinyl-asbestos tiles in kitchens and bathrooms, corresponding laying adhesives, fibre cement sheets on spandrel panels and balconies, suspended ceilings in common areas: these standardised buildings present typical configurations of the period.

Buildings in the Old Town and Cité, older, were often renovated between 1950 and 1985. The layers added during these works — smoothing renders, replacement floor tiles, heating pipe insulation — are the priority zones to investigate.

Commercial and administrative buildings

Sébeillon and Prélaz concentrate former railway and industrial buildings from the 1950s–1980s, many of which are being converted. Large corrugated fibre cement sheet roofs, facade cladding, asbestos-cement industrial floor tiles, steam pipe lagging: these materials require exhaustive diagnoses before any transformation works.

University facilities on the Dorigny campus and in the university districts include buildings from the 1960s–1980s presenting similar configurations.

Villas and single-family houses

Villas constructed between 1960 and 1980 in the upper residential districts (Chailly, Montchoisi, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne) present the common materials of this period: fibre cement roofing or cladding, tile adhesives, cellar or garage floor tiles.

Common asbestos-containing materials in Lausanne

Lausanne’s diverse building stock implies a wide variety of potentially asbestos-containing materials:

• Vinyl-asbestos floor tiles (kitchens, bathrooms, circulation areas)
• Adhesives for laying vinyl tiles and tiling
• Fibre cement sheets on facades, roofs and partitions
• Suspended ceilings in sheets or suspended tiles
• Smoothing renders and jointing mortars from the 1960s–1980s
• Large corrugated sheet roofs and cladding (industrial buildings)
• Asbestos-cement industrial floor tiles (Sébeillon, Prélaz)
• Lagging on heating, steam and domestic hot water pipes
• Sprayed acoustic insulation (large halls, car parks, cellars)
• Acoustic sprayed coatings in hotels and residences renovated in the 1960s–1970s

Regulations applicable in Lausanne

In the canton of Vaud, asbestos diagnosis is mandatory and the AvT (pre-works) report must be attached to the building permit file for any building predating 1991. This report must be less than three years old at the time of submitting the application.

In Lausanne, this requirement applies to a very high proportion of the building stock. Even for renovation works not formally requiring a permit, the federal obligation (OTConst) applies as soon as materials likely to contain asbestos are disturbed.

The report must be prepared by a diagnostician appearing on the list of recognised specialists published on vd.ch, that is to say holding FACH recognition. A report prepared by any other person will not be accepted by the Building Permits Service.

Neighbouring communes served

We cover all Lausanne districts and the agglomeration communes:

• Pully
• Prilly
• Renens
• Bussigny
• Crissier
• Epalinges
• Le Mont-sur-Lausanne
• Jouxtens-Mézery
• Lutry
• Ecublens

Frequently asked questions about asbestos diagnosis in Lausanne

My Lausanne building is in the Old Town and dates from the eighteenth century. Is it concerned?

An eighteenth-century building was not constructed with asbestos, but if it has undergone transformations between 1950 and 1991, certain materials added during those works may contain it. Suspended ceilings installed in the 1960s, new floor tiles or heating pipe insulation are the zones to investigate. The diagnosis targets precisely these added layers.

For a building permit in Lausanne, must the report be in French and signed by a FACH expert?

Yes. The report must be written in French and prepared by a diagnostician appearing on the list of recognised specialists published on vd.ch — that is to say holding FACH recognition. A report prepared by any other person will not be accepted by the Building Permits Service.

My works concern an apartment on the fourth floor. Must I also diagnose the common areas?

For the building permit, the diagnosis covers the zones directly affected by your works. If your works do not involve the common areas, they are not necessarily included in the diagnosis for your permit. However, if companies need to work in common areas (duct routing, boiler room access), these zones must also be diagnosed.

What is the realistic lead time between ordering the diagnosis and submitting the building permit?

Generally allow 2 to 4 weeks from the order to receiving the report: a few days to organise the visit, the visit itself, then 5 to 15 working days for analyses and drafting the report. For urgent files, an accelerated procedure can reduce this lead time to 7 to 10 working days.

Sébeillon is undergoing transformation. Do old railway buildings require a specific diagnosis?

The former railway and industrial buildings of Sébeillon, often of large surface area and constructed in the 1950s–1970s, require a comprehensive diagnosis before any transformation or demolition. These buildings frequently contain asbestos-containing materials in large quantities: large-format fibre cement roofs, steam pipe thermal insulation, industrial floors. An exhaustive diagnosis is indispensable for correctly estimating prior decontamination works.

Is the AvT report valid for several phases of works?

The AvT report is valid for 3 years from its date of preparation. If it covers all the zones concerned by your works, it can be used for successive phases within that period. However, if new zones are concerned in a later phase, a supplementary diagnosis will be necessary for those new zones.