More Than 100 School Buildings Ordered Shut Amid Collapsing Concrete Fears

Government urged to 'come clean' with list of schools affected

Workmen at one of the schools affected by RAAC concrete, Abbey Lane Primary School in Sheffield, England on Sep. 1, 2023. PA

The Department for Education has ordered 104 schools and colleges to shut buildings which contain a special type of concrete, amid fears that it could be prone to collapse.

Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), which was widely used to construct schools and other buildings between the 1950s and the early 1980s.

The Local Government Association said on its website, “The limited durability of RAAC roofs and other RAAC structures has long been recognised.”

In 2020 it was reported two RAAC ceilings had collapsed without warning but the Department for Education (DfE) has only now, just on the eve of hundreds of thousands of pupils going back to school next week, decided to close buildings at 104 schools.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb told the BBC, “What we discovered over the summer was a number of instances, in schools and in non-schools, in England and outside England, where RAAC that had been considered to be a low risk actually turned out to be unsafe.”

He said some of the evidence used to make the final decision had only arrived last week.

The government has decided to close affected buildings immediately and prop up ceilings which are potentially unstable.

The Labour Party has urged the government to “come clean” and publish a list of all schools that contain RAAC.

Government to Cover Cost of Temporary Classrooms

Mr. Gibb said the government would cover the cost of any temporary accommodation schools need to use to continue with classes.

“If in the worst-case scenario, a school does have to close and we put Portakabins into the grounds, all that cost will be covered by the department,” he added.

Asked whether more schools may be asked to close buildings, Mr. Gibb told GB News, “There may be more after that as these questionnaires continue to be surveyed and we continue to do more surveying work.”

He urged parents not to be concerned about the danger to their children in the meantime.

“That’s a very cautious approach, so parents can be confident that if they’ve not been contacted by their school it is safe to send children back into school,” Mr. Gibb added.

Mr. Gibb told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” programme one of the key reasons for taking the decision was that a RAAC beam which was showing no signs of “critical risk” suddenly collapsed recently.

Jane Frances, 46, who has two children at Corpus Christi Catholic primary school in Brixton, south London—one of the affected schools—told the BBC, “It’s quite disruptive, but actually you can’t take any chances with the children’s safety and that’s what’s got to be done.”

On Thursday, the DfE said it had contacted 104 more schools after 52 of the 156 educational settings containing the concrete took protective steps so far this year.

The DfE has been considering RAAC as a potential issue since late 2018 but the timing of the decision to issue guidance just days before the start of term has angered unions.

Teachers’ union: ‘Absolutely disgraceful’

The general secretary of the National Education Union Daniel Kebede said: “It is absolutely disgraceful, and a sign of gross government incompetence, that a few days before the start of term 104 schools are finding out that some or all of their buildings are unsafe and cannot be used.

“To add insult to injury the government states in its guidance that it will not be covering the costs of emergency temporary accommodation or additional transport,” he added.

The Scottish government says it is examining if RAAC is widespread in Scottish schools and whether any buildings will need to be closed.

Figures obtained by the Scottish Liberal Democrats in May suggested RAAC is present in at least 37 schools in Scotland.

PA Media contributed to this report.