The federal government has named greater than 40 extra colleges and faculties with buildings that include strengthened autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
An up to date listing revealed by the Division for Training (DfE) contains 43 extra training settings the place RAAC has been confirmed, taking the entire to 214.
Of those, 202 are nonetheless offering face-to-face studying for all pupils, whereas 12 have put in place hybrid preparations. None have needed to transfer to distant studying full time.
Final yr the federal government issued a questionnaire for colleges and faculties to determine suspected RAAC. In a written ministerial assertion, training secretary Gillian Keegan mentioned that responses had been obtained for 99.9 per cent of colleges and faculties with blocks constructed within the related years.
Officers are in contact with establishments to resolve the 17 remaining responses required.
The federal government is funding the emergency work wanted to mitigate RAAC, which can embrace putting in various classroom area.
It’s also funding “longer-term refurbishment or rebuilding initiatives to handle the presence of RAAC in colleges”, Keegan mentioned.
The minister wrote: “Faculties and faculties will both be supplied capital grants to fund refurbishment work to completely take away RAAC, or rebuilding initiatives the place these are wanted, together with via the College Rebuilding Programme. We’re working intently with accountable our bodies to evaluate what the proper resolution is for every case.”
The DfE advises training settings to vacate areas recognized to include RAAC “except or till appropriate mitigations are in place”.
RAAC is a light-weight type of concrete that was typically utilized in building between the Nineteen Fifties and mid-Nineteen Nineties. It’s predominantly present in roofs and sometimes in flooring and partitions.
It first emerged as a problem after the sudden collapse of a college roof in Kent in 2018. A report by watchdog the Standing Committee on Structural Security the next yr warned that the fabric was inherently “a lot weaker” than conventional concrete and had a “helpful life” of round three a long time.
In September 2022 the Workplace of Authorities Property despatched a discover to all property leaders warning that every one RAAC was “life-expired and liable to break down”.
A collection of RAAC failures in fast succession then triggered a major alarm on the finish of August.
