RAAC: Kent’s story

A week ago, very few people were aware of Reticulated Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) - now after days of headlines about ‘crumbly concrete’ and its impact on schools and other public buildings, and the impact of school closures on families, it has dominated the news. But in Kent we have a very distinct experience.

RAAC started to develop as a national level issue after a ceiling collapse at Singlewell Primary School in Kent in July 2018 (very fortunately, it happened over a weekend). As a result, Kent County Council and schools within the county have been alive to the issue since then, and there have been both repair works and extensive surveys of schools with buildings constructed in the period when RAAC was most widely used (1930s to 1990s, and especially between 1950 and 1980). 

The issue surged in importance again earlier this summer, when - following a change in guidance from the Institute of Structural Engineers, action had to be taken at seven schools in Kent (Palmarsh Primary; St James CofE Primary, Tunbridge Wells; Sunnybank Primary, Sittingbourne; Godinton Primary, Ashford; St Bartholomew’s Catholic Primary, Swanley; Birchington CofE Primary; and King Ethelbert Secondary School in Thanet). In all but one case - where the academy trust worked directly with the Department for Education (DfE) - KCC officers worked closely with the schools to ensure that teaching and learning could continue (use of mobiles, marquees, other rooms within the school or a nearby school) and works were brought forward over the summer. 

And so, when another collapse (which now appears to have been in a school building last week somewhere else in the country) led the DfE to advise schools with RAAC to close the affected areas, the Kent schools were not on the list of partial or full closures.

The last 24 hours have seen some further uncertainty. It was not clear from letters received from the DfE whether the works undertaken in the summer (prior to the most recent incident and guidance) constituted adequate mitigation of risk. As a result, we took the difficult decision to prioritise safety (even if the risks were likely to be very low) and so to keep two schools where the works had been completed closed today (Palmarsh as a full closure, and St James’ as a partial closure). However, we today received full confirmation from the DfE that the mitigation was adequate and both schools will reopen tomorrow. We’re deeply sorry at the disruption that this has caused schools, children and families, but felt that under the circumstances we had to take a safety first approach.

This will remain a significant national issue for some time. For anyone interested in the background, there is a useful discussion in the National Audit Office’s report on school condition, published in June. You can find KCC’s media release on the issue here.

Over the weekend, reflecting Kent’s experience in this area, I was interviewed on the Today Programme , Times Radio and LBC.