All Whitehall departments have been told to look for concrete at risk of collapse on their estates as safety fears continue to grow.
The Government Property Office is leading the massive effort to track down the existence of dangerous reinforced autoclaved concrete (RAAC) in state-owned buildings.
The move, which emerged in a report to the Local Government Association (LGA) Councilors’ Forum, marks an escalation of the crackdown on troubling material.
RAAC has been in the spotlight since the sudden collapse of a school roof in Kent in 2018. A Standing Committee on Structural Safety (SCOSS) report the following year warned that the material was inherently ” much weaker’ than traditional concrete and had a ‘useful life’ of about three decades.
Made without coarse aggregate, the RAAC fell out of favor in the 1980s and councils were warned by the LGA last year that it was now “life-expired and liable to collapse”.
The identification of RAAC on the public estate has so far been piecemeal. Prisons Minister Damian Hinds warned last month that it could be present in six court buildings, while five hospitals and three Police Scotland buildings have been found to contain the dangerous material.
A report to the LGA Councilors’ Forum by Safer & Stronger Communities Board chairman Nesil Caliskan last week said: “Central government is looking at expanding RAAC identification and remediation into the wider public space , after its initial focus on local authority maintained schools.
“The Government Heritage Office will convene a working group in which there will be a designated representative from each government department that is responsible for the identification and remediation of RAAC in buildings owned by that department. This group will also involve key stakeholders, including the LGA.”
A government spokesman said: “Departments regularly review the condition of the buildings they manage, including safety assessment.
“Departments are prioritizing maintenance and improvement works at those sites that have been identified as RAAC.”
