Former Leeds estate agent Rose Hall, 63, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2019 - an incurable asbestos-related cancer with a 2% survival rate despite 94% of all cases being preventable.

"He just said, 'you've been exposed to asbestos, unfortunately it's incurable'," she said.

"My first thought was, gosh I'm too young to die, because they said it was incurable, and obviously I was scared as to how I could explain this to my two daughters."

Having worked as an estate agent all her life - a job she cherished but had to give up due to her diagnosis - Rose said she never thought she could be at risk of developing an asbestos related cancer.

"I did know of asbestos, but I didn't feel threatened by it, like it was threatening me, because I didn't know much about it really."

Although no longer in use, asbestos can still be found in roughly 300,000 non-domestic buildings such as schools, hospitals and community centres, and in almost one million domestic buildings.

Rose Hall, 63, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2019

Moreover, asbestos-related diseases are still the number one workplace killer in the UK, which has one of the highest mesothelioma rates in the world.

In 2022, the Work and Pensions Select Committee recommended a target be set to remove all asbestos from non-domestic buildings within a 40-year timeframe, and committee chair Stephen Timms called asbestos-related deaths in the UK "one of the great workplace tragedies of modern times".

However, the government rejected these recommendations, arguing asbestos is safe if it remains undisturbed, but trade unions argue the government is putting lives at risk.

Speaking to Sky News, health and safety policy officer at the Trades Union Congress, Shelly Asquith, said: "The government's current policy is that asbestos is safe if it's left in situ, and it's not disturbed.

"But we would say, asbestos will always be disturbed, especially in buildings like schools where you've got children running around, that are falling apart - lots of schools are at risk of collapse currently. It needs to be removed."

Shelly Asquith, TUC Health and Safety policy officer

And it's not just unions that are calling for action.

Tory MP Jane Hunt chaired a parliamentary debate on asbestos in the workplace this week and told Sky News: "First of all I'd like a register of all types of buildings throughout the UK that have asbestos.

"And then the second thing - let's set a timetable to get rid of this stuff out of homes and out of businesses and out of public buildings across the whole of the country."

When contacted for comment, the Department for Work and Pensions referred us to the Health and Safety Executive, which said: "Most people with asbestos-related illnesses will have been exposed before stringent regulations were introduced in 1999.

"The risk of asbestos exposure is low, as long as it remains undisturbed in a good condition and the regulations are followed.

"A rush to remove all asbestos from buildings would pose more risk than managing it safely or removing it during planned construction work. The current approach works towards removal from all buildings in a safe, staged way."

Though associated with days gone by, asbestos is firmly rooted in the present as the drive to net zero by retrofitting old buildings inevitably throws up questions about whether it's time to kill two birds with one stone and eradicate this deadly substance from UK buildings once and for all.