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Surveys have identified the presence of the lightweight and potentially unsafe concrete that forced the closure of classrooms across England just before the start of term at another 61 schools and hospitals, according to government data released on Thursday.
The education department identified another 43 schools with buildings containing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, or RAAC, taking the total number affected to 214 since the warning was first issued in August. Most of the schools have been able to maintain face-to-face teaching despite having to close some classrooms.
Separately, the health department announced that it had found a further 18 hospitals with RAAC in their construction, adding to 27 previously identified. Three of the original hospitals had already removed the material, the department said, bringing the total currently affected to 42.
The last-minute decision by the government to order the closure of hundreds of school buildings just days before the start of term caused an angry backlash and led to a rush by all departments to identify other affected structures.
The issue of unsafe schools and hospitals has been seized upon by opposition parties, ahead of the general election expected next year, as a symbol of the failure of the ruling Conservative party to invest in public services after more than a decade in power.
Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s shadow secretary for education, said that the “drip, drip of schools being added to the RAAC list is yet more evidence of chaos from a Tory government that has no grip on the extent of crumbling school buildings”.
“Parents, children and school staff need urgent reassurance and answers on the steps being taken to support schools, to ensure children can get back into their normal classrooms and to rebuild classrooms riddled with unsafe crumbly concrete,” she added.
The Liberal Democrats’ education spokesperson Munira Wilson said that “parents will rightfully be furious to discover their children are being taught in unsafe buildings, some of which may be liable to collapse”.
The porous concrete was used most commonly in public buildings from the mid-1950s to mid-1990s.
The new cases in hospitals came to light after NHS leaders told all English hospitals last month to make sure that any dangerous concrete on their sites had been identified and that evacuation plans were in place.
Four of the newly-identified hospitals are in London, five in the south-east, four in the north-east and Yorkshire, two each in the Midlands and the south-west and one in north-west England.
The health department said full structural surveys would need to be undertaken at the newly-identified sites.
Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers which represents health organisations across England, said RAAC in hospitals was putting “patients and staff at risk and the picture is getting worse.”
