Inside concrete crisis as up to 400 schools could be hiding dangerous material

RATHER than looking forward to racing through the school gates with their pals in the coming days, thousands of students’ lessons are in limbo.

It was revealed yesterday that 150 schools are made up of buildings and classrooms at risk of collapse, sparking fears amongst families across the country.

5

5

5

5

5

But, that number could be higher with concerns 400 schools were built with the same “crumbling” concrete that’s coming crashing down.

Parents, students and teachers alike are said to still be waiting to hear whether their school gates will open on Monday – or if students will be forced into lockdown-style working.

The sudden announcement came after a beam collapsed at a school during the summer break – it had been made out of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

The material is a popular lightweight type of concrete and is normally used in roof, floor, cladding and wall construction.

In recent years it has been found that RAAC planks had crumbled coupled with severe weather.

Its consistency has been likened to looking like an Aero chocolate bar, and it’s been shown crushing to pieces when under pressure.

And while it’s recently been found in schools, hospitals across the UK are made of the crumbling concrete, too.

Five years ago RAAC made headlines when a Kent school’s roof came crashing down in a staff room.

Singlewell Primary was forced to close its gates for a week while its roof was repaired.

Fortunately, it was a weekend and no one was hurt – but it was escalated to the council.

KentOnline reported it triggered a domino effect – schools, public buildings and hospitals were all told to carry out surveys to check what underpinned them.

But The Times reported the first warnings that the crumbling concrete had been cracking came about in 1995.

A structural engineer in Somerset penned to the journal of the Institution of Structural Engineers described RAAC that had started to crack in a school.

He dubbed it was a “booby trap” for engineers and said that he believed it should not be used in permanent structures.

In recent months a probe found 400 school buildings across the country were made using RAAC.

The report announced in June that 700,000 youngsters are at schools in desperate need of repairs.

Dame Meg Hillier MP, chairwoman of the public accounts committee, told MailOnline: “700,000 pupils are learning in a school that needs major rebuilding or refurbishment, but worryingly Government does not know how many schools may be unsafe. 

“Since 2017, the Department for Education has improved its data on the general condition of the school estate, which has helped illustrate a serious deficit in annual funding required to improve schools. 

“After years of firefighting issues, parents need reassurance that the department knows where, when and how any risks to their children will be remedied.”

Schools Minister Nick Gibb today said the urgent warning to close and partially close 150 of those just before school starts back came after another collapse.

He 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.

“So over the summer – given this evidence – we had to take a decision. And some of that evidence, by the way, was as late as last week. We had to then decide what to do given the previous advice.

“A beam that had no sign… that it was a critical risk and was thought to be safe collapsed.”

‘CRITICAL RISK’

Ministers are now being urged to immediately publish a full list of the schools impacted after the government refused to.

Some parents are said to still be left in the dark – unsure whether their children’s school has been impacted.

But the families who have already learned their youngsters won’t be returning to school next week have told of their devastation.

Dad Shahzad Ismail was one of the thousands of parents who had learnt their children would be impacted.

The “devastated” dad told BBC: “Even the headteacher that sent that letter, you could tell from the letter how emotionally stressed out she was because it’s going to widely affect a lot of children.”

Another parent told of her son’s “disappointment” after only being told yesterday that his school would be closed.

Speaking to MailOnline, they said: “My son was supposed to be starting in his new school on Tuesday, however now we will be using Google classroom for the foreseeable future with no confirmed date of face-to-face teaching.

“The school state they were informed of the forced closure on August 29 at 4pm by the DofE and local council.

“We are extremely frustrated and our son is confused and disappointed.”

NOT JUST SCHOOLS

Photos snapped across the country today showed staff in action after getting the news.

Teachers and workers at Leicestershire’s Willowbrook Mead Primary Academy were seen carrying furniture from the school and out the gate.

Desks, chairs and tables could be seen being hauled outside the school on the damp morning.

Work has already been started on Sheffield’s Abbey Lane Primary after it was earlier found to have been built using the problem material.

Pics showed a tarpaulin covering one of its buildings, with machinery working nearby.

But it’s not just schools that are at risk.

The Cabinet Office also confirmed another 34 public buildings were being probed as they used RAAC.

The Guardian reported that of that 24 were hospital sites scattered across the country.