However, like RAAC, all have had their ’15 minutes of fame’ in the media, but soon fade back into relative obscurity, as far as the rest of the world is concerned, as the next crisis comes along. The industry then continues working, calmly and professionally, in the background. Rather like asbestos in structures and buildings, most, but not all, are known and monitored, with hopefully timely maintenance and replacement.
In common with its predecessors the ’15 minutes’ of RAAC caused a spike in work and with a considerably larger data set the worst became the norm.
Overall, since 2020, we have had 28 enquiries leading to initial identification Inspection of 850 buildings and 30 follow up Intrusive Investigations. 800 buildings were scheduled on a Civil Service spreadsheet, based on dates of construction, with some found not to contain RAAC. The programme required all to be completed in 3 months. In one case, an 8 hour round trip to an MoD establishment in North Wales, to Inspect a single ‘building’, which resulted in the schedule updated to “Timber framed Portacabin, no RAAC”.
In another case, the Structural Engineer was notified of badly deteriorated planks to roofs and floors in a corner shop type building in Rotherham, containing a betting shop, dance studio, restaurant and dry cleaners. Inspection of the roof revealed much historical repair to waterproofing, but water ponding in depressions corresponding with deflected planks. The owners, a property investor in London, moved with glacier speed, eventually finding the building and Rotherham in their records.
Buildings found to include RAAC components, i.e. roof and floor planks, and wall panels, have included hospitals, schools, office and retail buildings, a church, a famous tourist attraction in London, local authority buildings, MoD, water utilities, Banks and Building Society. They can also be included as components in much older buildings than the reported dates of use, infilling cut outs created during re-modelling.
In common with its predecessors the ’15 minutes’ of RAAC caused a spike in work and with a considerably larger data set the worst became the norm.
Overall, since 2020, we have had 28 enquiries leading to initial identification Inspection of 850 buildings and 30 follow up Intrusive Investigations. 800 buildings were scheduled on a Civil Service spreadsheet, based on dates of construction, with some found not to contain RAAC. The programme required all to be completed in 3 months. In one case, an 8 hour round trip to an MoD establishment in North Wales, to Inspect a single ‘building’, which resulted in the schedule updated to “Timber framed Portacabin, no RAAC”.
In another case, the Structural Engineer was notified of badly deteriorated planks to roofs and floors in a corner shop type building in Rotherham, containing a betting shop, dance studio, restaurant and dry cleaners. Inspection of the roof revealed much historical repair to waterproofing, but water ponding in depressions corresponding with deflected planks. The owners, a property investor in London, moved with glacier speed, eventually finding the building and Rotherham in their records.
Buildings found to include RAAC components, i.e. roof and floor planks, and wall panels, have included hospitals, schools, office and retail buildings, a church, a famous tourist attraction in London, local authority buildings, MoD, water utilities, Banks and Building Society. They can also be included as components in much older buildings than the reported dates of use, infilling cut outs created during re-modelling.
RAAC Inspections
Simon Bladon
30/03/26
1 of 10 - RAAC congested access for Inspection and Remediation
RAAC, or Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete, as we all now know, has been around for many years and we’ve all encountered it, during our nomadic work sites, similarly to HACC (High Alumina Cement Concrete), post war non-standard forms of construction, Preload and non-bridge post-tensioned structures, lift slabs and more. The list is as endless as designers and builder’s imaginations.
