Hannah Walton-Hughes
The Bassetlaw Hospital confirmed that there has already been work done to ‘eradicate’ the RAAC issue.
A ‘ticking time bomb’
In recent days, there has been much anxiety in relation to buildings whose roofing was built with reinforced autocleaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
In addition to schools, over thirty NHS buildings have been described as being on a ‘ticking time bomb’, including Bassetlaw Hospital in Nottinghamshire.
In data published by the Mirror, it was thought that a few hospital theatres at Bassetlaw were affected by RAAC.
However, the Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals (DBTH) Trust confirmed that RAAC had been removed from the affected areas earlier this year.
The first ‘acute NHS provider’ to remove RAAC from its sites
£15.944 million was provided to the trust, to repair the roofs impacted by RAAC by mid-2023.
It makes the DBTH the first ‘acute NHS provider’ to remove RAAC from its sites in the country.
It is not thought that any other Nottinghamshire hospital is affected at this time.
One of the trust’s directors, Dr. Kirsty Edmondson Jones, commented at the time of the removal, that the action demonstrated the trust’s “unwavering dedication” to the safety of all those involved with the hospital.
The Conservative MP for Bassetlaw, Brendan Clarke-Smith commended the trust for being ahead of other parts of the country.
It only has a lifespan of around thirty years
RAAC’s cheap and lightweight nature meant that it was first chosen for certain buildings in the 1950s and 60s.
It is described as having a texture similar to that of an Aero bar.
However, it only has a lifespan of around thirty years.
The government was first made aware of the presence of possibly compromised RAAC in public buildings in 1994. Monitoring has been conducted since 2018.
RAAC that was considered to be low risk collapsed
A survey was sent out to various bodies in 2022, where they were asked to provide information about where RAAC was present in schools.
Following expert advice, if the RAAC was not in a critical condition, it was left as it was.
This summer though, some RAAC that was considered to below risk collapsed, prompting the government to consider all schools with RAAC as dangerous, and ultimately leading to the partial or full closure of them.
Hannah Walton-Hughes
Featured image courtesy of Matt Artz via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
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