FOI request details

Request

Subject: Schools

Reference: LBR-FOI-00435

In 2018 the Local Government Association and Department for Education sent an alert to schools and responsible authorities about the use of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) that was used to construct any part of school estates between the 1960s and 1980s. Could you please answer the following questions relating to the official Government guidance (the most recent of which can be found here).

1. According to the Government guidance, since 2018 how many schools for which you have maintenance responsibility require inspection to determine if RAAC is present?

2. How many of those schools have been physically inspected to identify if RAAC is present?

3. For each building that was inspected:

3a) How many required remedial works to replace or repair the RAAC?

3b) How many repairs have been completed?

Response

Full Disclosure - 7 February 2023

In 2018 the Local Government Association and Department for Education sent an alert to schools and responsible authorities about the use of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) that was used to construct any part of school estates between the 1960s and 1980s. Could you please answer the following questions relating to the official Government guidance (the most recent of which can be found here).

1.According to the Government guidance, since 2018 how many schools for which you have maintenance responsibility require inspection to determine if RAAC is present?

Following the notification of potential RAAC risk in schools from Corporate Health & Safety in November 2019, desktop surveys and initial site inspections began in March 2020 across the Shared Staffing Arrangement (SSA*) having commissioned a specialist RAAC consultant. Based upon the age of a school building, 15 were identified in Richmond as needing a site visit and further visual inspection. All were issued an engineers report which outlined recommendations for either an intrusive RAAC survey, or it was deemed structurally safe and required no further action.

2.How many of those schools have been physically inspected to identify if RAAC is present?

As above.

3.For each building that was inspected:

3a) How many required remedial works to replace or repair the RAAC?

None in Richmond.

3b) How many repairs have been completed?

N/A.

* For information on the SSA please see www.richmond.gov.uk/council/how_we_work/organisational_structure/wandsworth

Please note that our responses were accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of release, and have not subsequently been updated. This information should be considered an historical record only.