RAAC: How long have we known about unsafe concrete in schools?

The authorities says it closed down parts of England's schools owed to caller grounds surrounding unsafe concrete.

But problems with RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) person been known astir for immoderate time.

RAAC - a lightweight worldly that was utilized mostly successful level roofing, but besides successful floors and walls - was wide utilized successful schools, colleges and different buildings from the 1950s until the mid-1990s.

The authorities says it has been alert of nationalist buildings that incorporate RAAC since 1994.

The usage of RAAC efficaciously came to an extremity 2 years later, pursuing a 1996 report from the Building Research Establishment (BRE) - a formerly government-owned probe laboratory.

RAAC extortion planks designed earlier 1980 were recovered to person excessive cracking and corrosion, the study found.

The planks were utilized successful level roofs due to the fact that they were lightweight and casual to install.

However, the BRE's study besides said: "there is nary grounds truthful acold to suggest that RAAC planks airs a information hazard to gathering users".

In 2018 - much than 20 years aft the BRE's study - a factual artifact fell from the ceiling of a schoolhouse successful Kent. That incidental prompted the authorities to commencement monitoring the information of schools with RAAC.

The Department for Education (DfE) had already started inspecting the conditions successful schoolhouse buildings since 2017. These inspections were completed in 2019 and Jonathan Slater - the apical civilian servant successful the section astatine the clip - said it led them to reason that betwixt 300 and 400 schools needed replacing each year.

Two years later, the authorities announced it would rebuild 500 schools implicit the adjacent decennary - which is lone astir 50 a year.

In May 2019, the Standing Committee connected Structural Safety (SCOSS) - a assemblage acceptable up to spot risks to gathering information - issued an alert informing that RAAC planks from earlier 1980 had present passed their expected work life.

It added that schools should see replacing them.

In 2022, the DfE sent a questionnaire to the bodies liable for maintaining schoolhouse buildings, specified arsenic section authorities and academy trusts, astir the usage of RAAC.

Then successful the summertime of 2023, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said that 3 incidents led her to instrumentality enactment - conscionable days earlier the caller schoolhouse twelvemonth was owed to begin.

In his BBC interview, Mr Slater besides accused the authorities of cutting the schools' repair fund contempt a informing of a "critical hazard to life" from crumbling concrete.

The illustration supra is the DfE's wide concern budget, adjusted for rising prices. That's concern successful things similar buildings and machine systems for schools and universities, alternatively than salaries oregon vigor bills.

It roseate beauteous steadily nether Labour. They ran a strategy called Building Schools for the Future that brought spending to a highest successful 2010 and was unopen down by the Conservative-led authorities soon afterwards.

After this, concern started to autumn until the conjugation authorities started its ain gathering strategy successful 2014.

Spending is expected to emergence successful the coming years, but not backmost to 2010 levels.

On conscionable the attraction of schools, the authorities is present spending £15bn - oregon astir £1.7bn a twelvemonth - which covers "maintaining and improving the information of schoolhouse buildings and grounds".

On apical of that, the DfE has been spending astir £0.6bn a twelvemonth connected rebuilding schools. This is acceptable to summation implicit the adjacent fewer years.

However, each this is importantly little than the magnitude the DfE itself says is needed to bring schoolhouse buildings up to scratch.

The section said successful 2020 it would request £4bn a twelvemonth for repairing, maintaining and rebuilding schools implicit the adjacent 5 years.

And that fig is astatine the debased extremity of what the Office of Government Property, which supports the authorities successful managing its estate, says is required. It estimates the fig needed is determination betwixt £4bn and £8bn.

The National Audit Office said successful a 2023 report: "Since summertime 2021, [the] DfE has assessed the menace to information successful schoolhouse buildings arsenic a captious risk" and that insufficient backing was making the hazard much severe.

Additional reporting by Robert Cuffe