Blaenau Gwent Council Confident Schools Are Safe From Collapsing Concrete As Inspections Continue On Other Buildings

BLAENAU GWENT council is confident that none of its schools have concrete that causes buildings to collapse.
On August 31 it was revealed that more than 100 schools in England have been told that they need to shut classrooms or put safety measures in place because they contain concrete that could collapse suddenly.
The UK Government has said that some of the schools will need to find alternative accommodation while safety measures are put in place.
The issues come from the use of Reinforce Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) as a building material from the 1950s up to the mid-1990s.
The Health and Safety Executive has said that RAAC is now beyond its lifespan and may “collapse with little or no notice.”
Infrastructure is a devolved power, and the Welsh Government has said that it has commissioned a condition survey of all state funded schools and colleges to identify any buildings suspected of containing RAAC.
At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s Place scrutiny meeting yesterday, (Monday, September 5) councillors were told that inspections were taking place of two council buildings where RAAC could be present.
At the meeting, the council’s head of community services Clive Rogers said that he was “optimistically cautious” that the buildings did not have any RAAC, but this needed to be proved.
A Blaenau Gwent spokesperson said: “Following some initial assessments carried out over the last few days which have prioritised schools, we can now say with a very high degree of certainty that no schools in Blaenau Gwent contain RAAC.
“We are now working to carry out assessments on other buildings.”
“The safety and well-being of school pupils and staff is a top priority.
So far in Wales, two schools on the Isle of Anglesey in North Wales and St David’s concert hall in Cardiff have been identified as containing RAAC. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​