{"id":131955,"date":"2023-09-01T10:42:57","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T09:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=131955"},"modified":"2025-10-28T09:36:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T09:36:15","slug":"over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 100 schools told to evacuate due to RAAC concrete risk"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new warning on RAAC concrete came one working day before most schools are due to return after the summer break<\/h2>\n

The DfE previously advised schools to prepare contingency plans<\/a> in response to the risk of RAAC concrete, but have now escalated, asking schools to make alternative arrangements on the Thursday before pupils return after the summer holidays.<\/p>\n

The news follows similar concerns about the presence of RAAC concrete in UK seven hospitals<\/a>, which are being rebuilt at a cost of \u00a320bn.<\/p>\n

RAAC concrete from the 1980s is reaching the end of its lifespan<\/h3>\n

Sean Keyes, managing director of Sutcliffe, commented:\u00a0\u201cA number of studies have been conducted across the country on Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete – or RAAC – and now the government has decided to introduce a new directive in the last 24 hours to immediately close schools and other buildings which are based in areas which include RAAC, meaning they cannot open for the new term.<\/p>\n

“This is unacceptable, as people have been aware of this issue for a number of years. RAAC is a lightweight, aerated, reinforced form of concrete – and while it is not like asbestos which poses a range of health risks – it may not be structurally strong enough, and in the slim chance that a RAAC roof collapses, then not only will it be unacceptable, but the results could be severe.”<\/p>\n

Originally favoured in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, for its thermal properties, RAAC has since been found to deteriorate over time.<\/p>\n

The issue was first brought to light after the sudden collapse of a primary school roof in Essex in 2018.<\/p>\n

An estimated 104 schools have been advised to partially or fully close<\/h3>\n

The number doubles the previous estimate of 50 affected schools. A National Audit Office report said in June that 572 schools across England could be at risk of their RAAC expiring.<\/p>\n

Education secretary, Gillian Keegan, said: \u201cNothing is more important than making sure children and staff are safe in schools and colleges, which is why we are acting on new evidence about RAAC now, ahead of the start of term.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must take a cautious approach because that is the right thing to do for both pupils and staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plan we have set out will minimise the impact on pupil learning and provide schools with the right funding and support they need to put mitigations in place to deal with RAAC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minister of state for schools Nick Gibb has said that the government will cover incurred costs over schools relocating<\/h3>\n

Speaking on Sky News, when asked who will pay if schools need to either fully or partially relocate, Nick Gibb said: \u201cWe will pay for that. We\u2019ve made it very clear we will cover all capital costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if in the worst-case scenario, we need portacabins in the school estate for an alternative accommodation, we will cover all those costs. So there has been some speculation that we won\u2019t cover those costs. We absolutely will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gibb also admitted that not all affected schools had been informed, with a “few more” still to be contacted.<\/p>\n

Tim Seal, head of construction at law firm Ridgemont, said:<\/p>\n

“The impact of RAAC will vary case-by-case. Not all schools with RAAC need to close: the disruption experienced will depend on a case-by-case basis including what mitigations a school can put in place – and how quickly it can do so.<\/p>\n

“RAAC was used from the 1960s to the 1990s in various types of public buildings – not just in schools, in hospitals for example. Not all remain in the public sector today. It would be sensible for building owners and managers at risk of having RAAC in their buildings to contact a qualified structural engineer or building surveyor for advice.”<\/p>\n

The RAAC risk announcement’s timing was heavily criticised<\/h3>\n

Steve Reed, the shadow justice secretary, said on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4: \u201cAfter 13 years of Conservative failure, the fabric of our public sector is literally crumbling.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued, \u201cImagine the fury of parents up and down the country today finding out that just days before the start of school term their school is going to be closed…They could have taken action at the beginning of the school holidays to start to get this preparation in place\u201d.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The new warning on RAAC concrete from the DfE came one working day before most schools would resume after the summer break.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[309],"tags":[811,3649,276,173174,753],"stakeholder_rel_tag":[],"contributor_rel_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-131955","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-health-safety-news","7":"tag-concrete","8":"tag-education","9":"tag-government","10":"tag-raac","11":"tag-safety"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOver 100 schools told to evacuate due to RAAC concrete risk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The new warning on RAAC concrete from the DfE came one working day before most schools would resume after the summer break\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Over 100 schools told to evacuate due to RAAC concrete risk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The new warning on RAAC concrete from the DfE came one working day before most schools would resume after the summer break\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-01T09:42:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-28T09:36:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/iStock-1346504470-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1333\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Harriet Clough\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"The new warning on RAAC concrete from the DfE came one working day before most schools would resume after the summer break\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PBC_Today\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@PBC_Today\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Harriet Clough\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0beefb03e9cfaf5fa036d3ce55ada356\"},\"headline\":\"Over 100 schools told to evacuate due to RAAC concrete risk\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-01T09:42:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-28T09:36:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/\"},\"wordCount\":724,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Concrete and Cement\",\"Education Facilities\",\"Government Policy\",\"RAAC\",\"Safety\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Health & Safety News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2023\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/\",\"name\":\"Over 100 schools told to evacuate due to RAAC concrete risk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-01T09:42:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-28T09:36:15+00:00\",\"description\":\"The new warning on RAAC concrete from the DfE came one working day before most schools would resume after the summer break\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Over 100 schools told to evacuate due to RAAC concrete risk\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\",\"description\":\"The Latest Planning, Building & Construction News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\",\"alternateName\":\"PBC Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/PBC_Today\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0beefb03e9cfaf5fa036d3ce55ada356\",\"name\":\"Harriet Clough\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b0cfdd3163c72e81d453787c0a3e3e02f2919965d9b1bc8206dbd5dccd07966?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b0cfdd3163c72e81d453787c0a3e3e02f2919965d9b1bc8206dbd5dccd07966?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Harriet Clough\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/author\/harrietclough\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Over 100 schools told to evacuate due to RAAC concrete risk","description":"The new warning on RAAC concrete from the DfE came one working day before most schools would resume after the summer break","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Over 100 schools told to evacuate due to RAAC concrete risk","og_description":"The new warning on RAAC concrete from the DfE came one working day before most schools would resume after the summer break","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/","og_site_name":"Planning, Building & Construction Today","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/","article_published_time":"2023-09-01T09:42:57+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-10-28T09:36:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2000,"height":1333,"url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/iStock-1346504470-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Harriet Clough","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_description":"The new warning on RAAC concrete from the DfE came one working day before most schools would resume after the summer break","twitter_creator":"@PBC_Today","twitter_site":"@PBC_Today","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/"},"author":{"name":"Harriet Clough","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0beefb03e9cfaf5fa036d3ce55ada356"},"headline":"Over 100 schools told to evacuate due to RAAC concrete risk","datePublished":"2023-09-01T09:42:57+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-28T09:36:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/"},"wordCount":724,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization"},"keywords":["Concrete and Cement","Education Facilities","Government Policy","RAAC","Safety"],"articleSection":["Health & Safety News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2023","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/","name":"Over 100 schools told to evacuate due to RAAC concrete risk","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-09-01T09:42:57+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-28T09:36:15+00:00","description":"The new warning on RAAC concrete from the DfE came one working day before most schools would resume after the summer break","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/over-100-schools-told-evacuate-raac-concrete-risk\/131955\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Over 100 schools told to evacuate due to RAAC concrete risk"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/","name":"Planning, Building & Construction Today","description":"The Latest Planning, Building & Construction News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization","name":"Planning, Building & Construction Today","alternateName":"PBC Today","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Planning, Building & Construction Today"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/","https:\/\/x.com\/PBC_Today"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0beefb03e9cfaf5fa036d3ce55ada356","name":"Harriet Clough","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b0cfdd3163c72e81d453787c0a3e3e02f2919965d9b1bc8206dbd5dccd07966?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b0cfdd3163c72e81d453787c0a3e3e02f2919965d9b1bc8206dbd5dccd07966?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Harriet Clough"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk"],"url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/author\/harrietclough\/"}]}},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-16 03:46:23","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131955"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156487,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131955\/revisions\/156487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131955"},{"taxonomy":"stakeholder_rel_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stakeholder_rel_tag?post=131955"},{"taxonomy":"contributor_rel_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor_rel_tag?post=131955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}