With just days to go before the start of the new school year, more than 100 schools in England have been told to shut buildings made with a certain type of concrete unless they put in place safety measures.
Here is what we know so far about the material at the centre of all this.
What is RAAC?
Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) is a lightweight material that was used in roofs, floors and walls between the 1950s and 1990s.
It is a cheaper alternative to standard concrete and because it is aerated, or “bubbly”, it is less durable with a limited lifespan of around 30 years, and the structural behaviour differs significantly from traditional reinforced concrete.
According to Loughborough University, there are tens of thousands of these structural panels already in use and “many are showing signs of wear and tear and deterioration”.
Watch: How RAAC concrete can crumble under pressure
The Health and Safety Executive says RAAC is now beyond its lifespan and may “collapse with little or no notice”.
In a statement, the Standing Committee on Structural Safety (SCOSS) noted that: “Although called ‘concrete’, RAAC is very different from traditional concrete and, because of the way in which it was made, much weaker.”
Graphic explaining What is RAAC concrete?
Are other buildings affected?
RAAC has also been used in a lot of other public buildings across the UK, including hospitals, courts and police stations.
In Scotland, more than 250 NHS buildings could have been built using RAAC. Health officials in the identified buildings are currently working on an investigation to determine whether it is present – that’s expected to take between up to eight months.
In England, hospitals are propping up buildings where they identify RAAC and seven are being rebuilt because they have a lot of it.
Just last month, Harrow Crown Court, in north-west London, after RAAC was found during improvements.
Since 2018, they have been encouraging those responsible for public buildings to conduct surveys to identify the material and take steps to have it removed if found.
Why is the government acting now?
Unions and opposition parties are saying the government should have acted sooner.
Head teachers’ union NAHT said the timing couldn’t be worse, with children due to return from summer holidays next week, and thousands of pupils now facing disruption.
The government has known since 1994 that some public sector buildings contain RAAC – and has been monitoring their condition since 2018, it said in a statement.
New guidance was issued in 2021 and 2022 about how to manage RAAC, and the DfE sent out a questionnaire last year to “all responsible bodies”, asking them to provide information about the use of RAAC in schools across the country.
Schools Minister Nick Gibb said the expert advice had been that if RAAC was not in a critical condition, it was safe to continue to use the building. But over the summer a RAAC beam that had previously been considered low risk collapsed, he said.
The BBC understands there were three cases of RAAC failing over the summer. Two of the cases were not in England.
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