This story in the news about school closures over concrete is confusing af to me. I understand that they’ve been built with a type of concrete that crumbles, but why is it only schools that have been built out of it? We’re they all built by the same contractor cheaping out on materials or something?
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As I understand it this is a valid material that is used in certain circumstances rather than just cheaping our on materials. The trouble is that it has a lifespan of ~30 years. Lots of schools were built to the same design and councils are famous for using things longer than they should.
It’s not it’s also a few hospitals
It’s not that it only affects schools. It’s just that school buildings have recently been surveyed for safety, so they actually *know* which school buildings are unsafe.
It’s not only schools that are built out of it, its just that the media is only reporting on schools because the kids are about to go back for the September term.
Other buildings have used it but schools are the main concern right now because (and this may shock you) they have children in them and anything that potentially endangers children is usually a priority in these kinds of situations.
It’s only affecting schools so far. It’s only been made public now because their hand has been forced / it was going to come out anyway. Expect more of the same for other public buildings as more people become aware and start to investigate.
My local hospital in Wales has had a number of wards closed for the same reason.
It’s not just schools – it was used for a lot of public buildings at the time because it was relatively cheap and adaptable. If you want to build a lot of schools, hospitals, and other public buildings it was an obvious choice.
The NHS has had a big programme to identify buildings at risk and deal with them (mostly by propping them up at the moment) and the Courts Service has been doing the same – Harrow Crown Court may be closed for 9 months because of it. It’s bound to be in government and municipal buildings too – civic centres, tax offices, driving test centres, quite a lot of buildings built at the same time are likely to be at risk.
Schools have become an issue because it hasn’t been handled well and the start of term creates a hard deadline that’s pushed it into the headlines, but it’s not restricted to them by any means.
It’s going to affect A LOT of public buildings, but they prioritised inspecting schools as the first tranche of the work.
There’s some truth to the risks, but also a lot of media hype, mixed in with a little old school, government u turns to add to the drama.
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/sep/02/uk-concrete-crisis-raac-problems-could-extend-to-hospitals-and-courts-experts-say
Any public building that was constructed using RAAC – Hospitals, courts, libraries etc are effected. The threat of a collapsing library is not as glamorous (from a media perspective) than a school.
That’s a leading question.
The news is clearly saying its affecting hospitals too.
In addition to the reasons pointed out, there is also the old addage “Won’t somebody please think of the children”, meaning if you can link something to the plight of children, it will resonate more, thus sell better.
Schools are getting most of the attention but it’s courthouses and hospitals too- it was a cheap way of building flat roofs.
Its not, we’ve got a library/community building that’s been closed for about 2 years because of a dodgy concrete roof
My uncle lives in a concrete house. He’s just accepted he won’t be able to sell it to anyone other than a cash buyer for less than market value. As a surveyor and mortgage company wouldn’t touch it as it may develop “concrete cancer” one day. The whole street is in the same boat.
It’s not, it’s all types of buildings. However, it’s only the school buildings that have been checked recently.
IIRC the roof of a school in the South of England partially collapsed which forced the issue.
Fat Tony sure is busy. Do we really need all those ramps?
Was this material used in residential buildings? Or is it only public buildings?
RAAC only becomes a problem when water gets in, rusting the steel reinforcement and making it so heavy it collapses. Flat roofs need to be covered in bitumen which should be regularly maintained. Starve schools of money over years and boom down comes the roof. It could happen elsewhere of course — anywhere there’s a single story building built cheaply 60s to 80s.
Kings Lynn have literally had to beg and protest for years to get a new hospital because theirs is currently being held up by over [4,000 props](https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2023-05-25/crumbling-hospital-held-up-4000-props-to-be-rebuilt-government-confirms) the government finally gave funding a couple of months ago. Here’s hoping it can stay up another 5-7 years while the new one is built.
West Suffolk hospital have taken out corporate manslaughter insurance for when their roof fails, and Hinchingbrooke can’t use their upstairs surgical theatres for the same reason. I think the Norwich hospital is having similar issues as well. it’s not just schools, I’m hoping it wasn’t used in housing, but I bet it was.
It doesn’t , it was affecting hospitals last year . The government are just slowly addressing each
It’s also been known about a long while , some schools are already addressing /addressed it
The ministry of justice were refusing to say how much of its estate is made up of the problematic material so probably a fair few prisons too
This is only the beginning, I expect it to be found in tower blocks and shopping centres as well as all the ones mentioned. Pretty much any big structure built from 1960 to 1990 could have it. The issue is people cutting corners. The first corner cut is the width of the outer layer on the concrete as they cut millimetres off it to save money. The second is not paying for and using the correct paint and paint sealants. These both lead to water/humidity getting in and the concrete crumbling but also the main issue which is the metal support rod rusting and weakening. Capitalism and the pursuit of profit doesn’t care if someone dies in 10 years time as long as it gets it’s money now.
It’s not only schools. Harrow Crown Court has been closed indefinitely because of it. They’ll be other courts too.
Why is it coming up now? Because the government has ignored the problem for years until ceilings started collapsing.
This looks like it’ll affect my local school.
Just after a building put up just 15 years ago had to be demolished over structural issues.
Meanwhile the Victorian part of the school that was built 150 years ago is still standing. Says it all…