In September, an obscure building material suddenly hit the front pages of national newspapers. Days before the academic year started, more than 100 schools were told to evacuate buildings immediately. It was later revealed that the Department for Education (DfE) had been spooked by three roof collapses over the summer. The culprit? Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), a material commonly used in roofs and walls in the latter half of the 20th century, which is now rapidly approaching its expiration date.
Although RAAC planks can last if installed and treated correctly, allowing schoolchildren to sit in buildings with potentially dangerous concrete hanging above their heads was not a situation that could be tolerated. The DfE accelerated its remediation programme and handed out three contracts to put up temporary buildings.
Work to rid buildings of RAAC ramped up elsewhere in the public estate. The NHS committed £698m of additional funding from 2021 to 2025 to remediate 42 hospital sites where the presence of RAAC had been confirmed, with seven of the worst-affected hospitals targeted for replacement in the government’s New Hospital Programme. The CLC set up a panel of technical experts to advise the public sector on the mammoth task ahead.
The schools debacle also sparked a rush among private building owners to find out where else the potentially dangerous concrete might be lurking. RAAC has been detected in shopping centres, museums, theatres, airports… even the Houses of Parliament. The extent of the risk – and the money it will take to remedy it – will take some time to establish.
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