Why does Britain have a crumbling concrete problem?

The decision to close all UK school buildings made of lightweight concrete, which can be prone to collapse, has sparked a political firestorm in the UK just days before the start of the academic year.

While less than 1% of schools and colleges are affected, other public buildings – including hospitals, courthouses and prisons – may contain the material, leading the opposition Labor Party to accuse the Conservative government of more than a decade of austerity policies – Neglect of UK public infrastructure.

The true extent of the problems caused by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) in the public and private sectors is still to be determined, and the FT explores the facts behind the storm.

What is Lark?

Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete is a lightweight substitute for traditional reinforced concrete with good fire and heat insulation properties.

Diagram showing pitfalls of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete technology

It was mainly used for roofing panels and walls from the 1960s to the 1980s. Its flaws — including its susceptibility to water seepage — have been known for decades. Following the collapse of the roof in the 1980s, the UK government published a paper on the issue in 1996. In 1999, the Standing Committee on Structural Safety, a group of experts, issued a warning against its use.

In 2018, a school’s Raac roof suddenly collapsed, prompting the Ministry of Education to alert education authorities about potential problems with the material. in a subsequent announcementScoss warns that “pre-1980 Raac planks are now past their expected lifespan and should be considered for replacement”.

Why are UK schools so badly affected?

The Department of Education has identified 572 schools with potential Raac problems, a legacy of the history of special education policy in England, according to a June report by the National Audit Office.

Following Britain’s two post-war baby booms, which peaked in 1947 and 1964, British schools expanded dramatically in the mid-20th century as a result of the need to find places for children and to raise the school-leaving age to 15. There were 16 in 1947 and 16 in 1972. About one-third of the existing school building area was constructed between 1950 and 1979.

A bar graph (%) of the proportion of UK school buildings currently constructed per decade shows that many of today's schools date from the mid-20th century

Whose fault is it?

The previous Labor government’s ‘Building the Schools of the Future’ program, announced in 2004, has probably solved most of the problems: it aimed to rebuild or refurbish secondary schools. However, the scheme was scrapped by the Conservative-led coalition government in 2010.

Budgets for rebuilding schools have since been further squeezed. The Institute of Government think tank estimates that the Department of Education’s overall capital budget fell by more than a third between 2007-08 and 2020-21, from £7.9bn in real terms to £5.1bn.

Demand for new places (including ‘free schools’, the government’s scheme to open new schools) meant funds were spent on expanding the stock, resulting in woefully underspending on maintenance for more than a decade.

How much will it cost to repair?

The DfE will need to come up with a plan to replace or repair the Raac building. However, repairs may not require rebuilding. In some cases, “the planks have been replaced with alternative structural roofs, or the spans have been shortened by introducing auxiliary supports,” Scors noted.

If the department replaced all of the aging Raac buildings, the cost could rise into the billions. The latest estimates from the UK Department of Education, published in 2022, suggest that redeveloping an average-sized 1950s block in each of the 572 schools would total around £3.1bn.

However, there may be more than one block of the school that needs to be rebuilt, and depending on the temporary accommodation, the cost will escalate further.

Can ministers put the crisis behind them?

Maybe not. Rucker is just one element of a larger school maintenance problem. The Department of Education’s own annual report warns that “some schools have one or more blocks at risk of collapse, which are at or near their design life expectancy and whose structural integrity has been compromised”.

The UK Foreign Office estimates that around £6bn will be needed by 2021 to rehabilitate buildings built between the 1950s and 1970s. These costs account for half of the £11.4bn cost of school maintenance. The average 1950s school building required nearly £400,000 in maintenance work.

A bar graph of average maintenance needs per block (in thousands of pounds) shows that post-war buildings are particularly aging/

Due to the aging of these buildings, the school buildings are located in Need more jobs than the NHSwith an estimated £10 billion maintenance backlog.

Aside from the general condition of the estate, the age of the ‘system-built’ school (made from components pre-assembled on site) built between 1945 and 1970 is of particular concern. The potential cost of replacing them dwarfs any potential Raac problems. The DfE expressed concerns about the 3,800 block.

Do other sectors have Raac issues?

No one is sure, and this is part of the problem Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faces as he seeks to change the political narrative around a “collapsed Britain”.

According to the DfE, when questionnaires about Raac were sent to 14,900 schools, only 156 schools found the material; of these, only four were forced to close completely and students switched to remote learning.

However, Whitehall insiders say the DOE’s initial decision to evacuate all areas with Raac, rather than follow existing guidance from structural engineers to first monitor and then brace affected areas, has put pressure on other departments.

A cross-Whitehall exercise is underway to assess the extent of Raac in other buildings, including hospitals, courthouses and prisons. Authorities in charge say that in most cases they have the space and flexibility to deal with problems.

Raac has been detected at 27 sites across 23 hospital trusts since 2019, the NHS said on Tuesday. The virus has since been eliminated at 3 sites. The NHSE said more sites could be identified after additional assessments were completed this week.

The Justice Department found Raac in seven courthouses built between the 1960s and 1980s, but the sites were deemed safe after assessment and testing. Harrow Crown Court, outside London, has been closed for at least six months after the substance was discovered, but the case has been transferred to other courts.

Are other countries affected?

Patrick Hayes, technical director of the Institution of Structural Engineers, said the UK was ahead of other countries in identifying Raac problems because it had a system that allowed structural problems in buildings to be reported confidentially.

Hayes said his team was being contacted by engineers from across Europe who wanted to better understand the problems found in the UK.

British government officials say they have been asked to look at practices in other countries following problems in British schools. “We couldn’t find any other country that had a comprehensive Raac action plan,” said one person.

Reporting by Peter Foster, Anna Gross, Jane Croft, Sarah Neville, Chris Cook and george parker

Svlook

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *