RAAC concrete found in school but council says it won’t close

By Adrian Zorzut, Local Democracy Reporter

A council has confirmed one of its schools has reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) – and it won’t be shutting.

Westminster City council said the aging concrete was present in two classrooms at St Mary Magdalene and St Stephen’s CE Primary School in Rowington Close.

Councillor Tim Roca said: “The health and safety of pupils will always be the council’s top priority. The school is in direct contact with parents to inform them that the school will not need to close or move students to online learning, and we are supporting staff to ensure disruption to pupils’ education is minimised.”

Meanwhile, Kensington and Chelsea council confirmed none of its school have been affected so far.

A spokesman for Kensington and Chelsea council said: “We were made aware of the Government announcement yesterday, and like every other local authority in the country, we are working this through with our schools, both dioceses and local academy trusts and assessing the impact.

“So far, we have not encountered any issues with this material in our buildings, but we will continue to work with headteachers, educational leaders, and experts, to ensure thorough checks take place. Safety is always the top priority.”

Hammersmith and Fulham council said none of its schools have been affected.

It comes as parents of pupils at Corpus Christi Catholic School in Brixton Hill, Lambeth, were sent a letter last month about the dangerous concrete at the school.

Major safety concerns have been raised over buildings containing aerated concrete, used in some school buildings constructed between the 1950s and 1980s.

An unprecedented mass closure of school buildings across the country has been ordered so urgent work can be carried out to make them safe although the Department for Education (DfE) has stressed that the vast majority of school buildings are unaffected.

In a statement on its Education Hub blog, the DfE said: “We’ve announced a change in our approach to managing a building material found in some school buildings and other education settings, known as Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC).

“We have been proactively monitoring all confirmed cases of RAAC closely. Recent cases have led to a loss of confidence in buildings containing the material, leading us to advise education settings (schools, colleges and maintained nursery schools) to vacate all spaces or buildings that are known to contain RAAC, unless they already have mitigations in place to make the building safe.”

St Mary Magdalene and St Stephen’s CE Primary School has been contacted for comment.

Pictured top: St Mary Magdalene school in Westminster (Picture: Google Street View)