NFRC RAAC Safety Alert – What To Do If You Suspect a RAAC Roof
FOLLOWING THE CLOSURE of 104 schools with Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC), announced by the Government on 31 August, the National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC) is reminding roofing contractors of what they should do if they suspect the presence of RAAC.
NFRC RAAC Safety Alert
The Safety Alert was produced by the NFRC Technical Team, alongside the Standing Committee on Structural Safety (CROSS) and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Community.
While building maintenance is the duty of councils and academies, the Department for Education (DofE) says new RAAC cases have reduced it’s confidence that school and college buildings with confirmed RAAC should remain open without mitigations in place.
As a result, the department says it is changing its approach to RAAC in schools. The DofE says “this decision has been made with an abundance of caution and to prioritise safety of children, pupils, and staff ahead of the start of the new term”.
This week, the department contacted 104 schools where RAAC is confirmed to be present without mitigations in place, to ask them to vacate spaces or buildings that are known to contain RAAC. Another 50 schools have installed temporary accommodation.
The majority of these settings will remain open for face-to-face learning on their existing site, because only a small part of the site is affected by RAAC. A minority will need to either fully or partially relocate to alternative accommodation while mitigations are put in place because of the extent to which RAAC is present.
Already Aware of RAAC
The Government has been aware of RAAC in public sector buildings since 1994. In 2018, the DofE published guidance for schools about the need to have adequate contingencies in place for any RAAC-affected buildings in case they needed to be vacated at short notice.
Schools with RAAC have been contacted directly by a DofE and the department says it, “will continue to work with all education settings to identify RAAC and provide support where it is confirmed to be present”.
It adds, parents will be contacted by their school if pupils are moving to a temporary location while remediation works are being carried out.
Gillian Keegan, UK Secretary of State for Education
Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, said: “Nothing 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.
“The 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.
“While some short-term disruption is inevitable as a result of this change, all available measures are being taken to minimise disruption to learning.”
The NFRC RAAC Safety Alert can be found here.
>> Read more about RAAC in the news
The post NFRC RAAC Safety Alert – What To Do If You Suspect a RAAC Roof appeared first on Roofing Today.