Universities close buildings over ‘crumbling concrete’ warnings

UK universities are scrambling to assess the risks posed by unsafe concrete in light of new government warnings, with those affected likely to face multimillion-pound repair bills and months of disruption.

Safety concerns around the use of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (Raac) – used widely as a building material in the second half of the 20th century – have forced more than 150 British schools to partially or fully close at the start of the new academic year, with experts warning that the problem is much more widespread.

Universities built or significantly expanded between the 1950s and 1990s are those most likely to have buildings containing Raac, with some already being forced to close parts of their campuses as a precautionary measure while carrying out further investigations.

The University of Edinburgh said that it had restricted access to eight of its buildings as it carried out more detailed surveys, affecting teaching, laboratory and office spaces.

“We are looking into appropriate alternative spaces as a matter of urgency so that activities scheduled to take place in these areas can be relocated where possible,” the university said.

Edinburgh said it hoped to complete its assessments within two weeks but warned that “this will require support from specialist structural engineers, who are in high demand at the moment” and acknowledged that the start of the academic year might be disrupted for some.

Issues posed by Raac have been known about for several years but last week the Department for Education said recent cases had “led to a loss of confidence in buildings containing the material” and advised education providers to “vacate all spaces or buildings that are known to contain Raac, unless they already have mitigations in place to make the building safe”.

Many estates departments had already been in the process of assessing their buildings, but the latest developments have added increased urgency to the situation.

Several other Scottish institutions, including the universities of Dundee, St Andrews and Aberdeen, have also closed off buildings in the last few months after early inspections identified potential issues.

“Institutions are undergoing intrusive surveys where needed, and some are at the stage of carrying out repairs,” a spokesperson for Universities Scotland said.

“Affected areas have been closed as a precautionary measure without major disruption to students’ return for the new academic year.” 

The body added that, although there was no estimate yet regarding the cost of addressing the issue, it “will be significant” and it would be raising the matter with the Scottish government as “funding for university capital maintenance is at an all-time low”.

The situation in the rest of the UK was less clear, but Phil Purnell, professor of materials and structures at the University of Leeds, said he expected the number of universities affected would probably be similar to the proportion of schools affected, which estimates have put at between 1 and 5 per cent.

Professor Purnell said the cost of repair work was “going to be in the millions” for universities because Raac was most often present in roofs, which would then need to be replaced.

Although buildings that had been properly maintained did not need to be demolished, he said, Raac was likely to be only one of the issues present because of the age of the buildings involved, so universities were probably going to elect to carry out full-scale rebuilding projects where necessary.

A spokesperson for Universities UK said: “We are in contact with the Association of University Directors of Estates (AUDE) to understand the scale of any potential issues in university buildings and whether any action is required ahead of the start of the new academic year later this month.”

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com