No concrete plans?
Some school buildings in England have been forced to close or do urgent repairs because they’re built with a potentially crumbling material, reinforced autoclave aerated concrete, known as RAAC. Lightweight and cheap, RAAC was widely used during the post-war building boom of the 1950s, 60s and 70s. But it has a limited shelf-life, which experts have been aware of for the last 30 years. And poor maintenance of buildings has added to the risks of sudden and catastrophic collapse.
But are schools just the tip of the iceberg? David Aaronovitch asks how widespread is the risk – and what structural…
The skinny
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