MS
Matt Stowe
Managing DirectorLeads SES Group and is still on site and on the phone. More than 30 years in asbestos removal, demolition and environmental remediation.
Licences: Class A & B asbestos supervisor
Six divisions. One family-owned group. Thirty years on New Zealand’s toughest sites.
SES Group began as Safe Environmental Solutions, a family run asbestos removal business on Auckland’s North Shore. Today it is a group of six specialist divisions working for hospitals, defence bases, telecommunications networks and commercial property owners across the North Island - still owner-led, still answering the phone ourselves.
- 30+ years
- 6 divisions
- Class A & B licensed
Our story
From one licence to six divisions
Safe Environmental Solutions was set up to do one thing properly: remove asbestos safely from the buildings New Zealanders live and work in. That meant holding both WorkSafe Class A and Class B licences, training our own supervisors and operatives, and turning down work we could not do to standard.
Clients kept asking for more. The demolition crew that followed the asbestos crew. The specialist cleaners who dealt with the mould, meth or fire damage the survey uncovered. The maintenance team that made good afterwards. Each time, we built the capability in-house rather than subcontract the risk.
In 2026 those capabilities became SES Group: Asbestos, Demolition, Property Maintenance, Specialist Cleaning, Waterproofing and Recruitment, with a Civil and Earthworks division planned. One contract, one safety system, one accountable team.
- 1990s
Safe Environmental Solutions founded
A family run asbestos removal business on Auckland’s North Shore.
- [year]
WorkSafe Class A licence
Licensed for friable asbestos alongside our Class B licence.
- [year]
ISO 45001 certification
Health and safety management system independently certified.
- [year]
First Health NZ contract
Staged asbestos removal inside a live clinical facility.
- [year]
Demolition division
The crew that follows the asbestos crew, brought in-house.
- 2026
SES Group launches
Six divisions, one contract, one safety system.
What we stand for
How we work
Safety before schedule
Every job starts with a site-specific safety plan and ends with clearance documentation. If a method is not safe, we change the method, not the standard.
Licensed, audited, insured
Class A and Class B asbestos licences, ISO 45001 health and safety certification, full public liability cover. Certificates supplied with every tender.
One accountable team
Our own supervisors, crews and plant across all six divisions. When asbestos, demolition and clean-up overlap, one SES project manager owns the outcome.
Straight answers
Fixed quotes after a site visit, realistic timeframes, and a phone call the moment something changes. Procurement teams tell us this is why they come back.
Leadership
Owner-led, on site
SES is run by Managing Director Matt Stowe and a leadership team with more than 50 years of combined experience in asbestos removal, demolition and environmental remediation. Every division has a named lead who is accountable for its crews, its plant and its safety record.
- A
[Name]
Division Lead - AsbestosAccountable for asbestos crews, plant and the safety record on every removal, survey and air-monitoring job.
Licences: Class A & B supervisor, licensed assessor
- D
[Name]
Division Lead - DemolitionRuns soft-strip, structural demolition and deconstruction programmes, including asbestos-in-demolition sequencing.
Licences: Demolition supervisor
- HS
[Name]
Health & Safety ManagerOwns the ISO 45001 system, site safety plans, inductions and toolbox talks across all six divisions.
Licences: ISO 45001 lead auditor
Credentials
Licensed and certified for the work we do
- WorkSafe NZ Class A asbestos removal licenceFriable asbestos - licence no. [xxxx]
- WorkSafe NZ Class B asbestos removal licenceNon-friable asbestos - licence no. [xxxx]
- ISO 45001:2018Occupational health and safety management - certified by [body], valid to [date]
- SiteWise Gold - 100% (2025/26)Contractor health and safety prequalification, assessed by Site Safe New Zealand on 25 September 2025
- IMPAC PREQUAL - 5-star assessment ratingPrequalified contractor for Asbestos removal (Class A), Category 2 - Identifying Safe Contractors programme [current certificate period to confirm]
- ISO 9001 / 14001Quality / environmental management - confirm if held
- Licensed asbestos assessorsIndependent clearance and air monitoring on every Class A job
Clients
Trusted by the organisations with the most to lose
SES works for Health NZ, the New Zealand Defence Force and Spark, alongside property managers, main contractors, councils, insurers and body corporates. We have worked in operating hospitals, secure defence facilities, live telecommunications exchanges, refineries, power stations, schools, apartment blocks and family homes.
- Health
- Defence
- Telecommunications
- Commercial property
- Industrial & energy
- Local government
- Insurance
- Residential
Auckland head office, North Island coverage
We are based at Browns Bay on Auckland’s North Shore and run crews across Auckland, Waikato, Northland, Hawke’s Bay and Wellington. National clients get one project manager and one mobilisation plan for every site.
Talk to the people who will actually do the work
Send us the scope or call the office - a division lead will come back within one business day.
