Doom: Schools falling down

[SueEllen]

Oh Dear!

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...er-raac-survey

The education secretary, Gillian Keegan, has angered teachers a day after a sweary outburst landed her in trouble, this time claiming headteachers who had not responded to a survey about whether they were affected by crumbling concrete should “get off their backsides”.

Her comments in a radio interview came a day after she was forced to apologise after being caught swearing on camera while expressing frustration about the crisis surrounding reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) in schools, claiming that “everyone else has sat on their arse” while she tried to fix the problem.

Keegan told Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio 2 on Tuesday: “The annoying bit, and this was probably a bit of my frustration yesterday, is despite asking since March 2020, there’s 5% of schools or responsible bodies that have not responded to the survey. Now hopefully all this publicity will make them get off their backsides.

“But what I would like them to do is to respond because I want to be the secretary of state that knows exactly in every school where there is Raac and takes action.”

[SueEllen]

And if you go into hospital in England be prepared!

https://www.theguardian.com/society/...-concrete-raac

NHS bosses have told hospitals across England to be ready to evacuate staff and patients if buildings containing concrete that are at risk of collapse start to fall down.

NHS England issued the instruction to all 224 health trusts on Tuesday in the wake of the row over reinforced aerated autoclaved concrete (Raac), which has led to the closure of more than 100 schools.

It came in a letter from Dr Mike Prentice, the organisation’s national director for emergency planning and incident response, and Jacqui Rock, its chief commercial officer.

In it, they tell trust chiefs that they should familiarise themselves with a “regional evacuation plan” drawn up by the NHS in the east of England so that hospitals could implement it in the event that buildings that contain Raac start to crumble.

While all trusts should do so it is “essential” that the 19 trusts that have the largest numbers of facilities built using Raac do so “as a matter of priority”, the letter makes clear.

It says: “A regional evacuation plan was created and tested in the East of England. Learnings from this exercise have been cascaded to the other regions.
“We would recommend that all [trust] boards ensure that they are familiar with the learning from this exercise and that they are being incorporated into standard business continuity planning as a matter of good practice.

“This exercise is, however, essential for those organisations with known Raac, and should be done as a matter of priority if it has not already been completed.”
The letter was sent to the chair, chief executive and estate leads for all 224 trusts and 42 integrated care boards in England, which are regional groupings of NHS trusts and local councils.

Hospitals were also told in the letter that they need to have plans in place to allow for the “decant of patients and services where Raac panels are present in clinical areas” in the event of “Raac failure” – buildings starting to fall down.

Seven trusts run a hospital made mostly of Raac planks and 12 others have at least one building that was erected using the material.

That form of concrete, which one hospital boss has likened to an Aero chocolate bar because it contains so many air bubbles, was heavily used in the construction of schools and hospitals from the 1950s to 1990s. However, it has long passed its 30-year expected lifespan, leaving facilities built with Raac in danger of falling down.

A number of hospitals have had to install hundreds of props around affected building to ensure that roofs, ceilings, floors and walls do not start to disintegrate. For example, the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Norfolk has 2,400 props holding up the roof.

[vetran]

[JustKeepSwimming]

Another footnote in the boomer legacy. Stretch their parents infrastructure out as long as possible and get their grand kids to pay for the replacements.

The US has the same issue but far worst because of their dispersed population providing no economies of scale.

It's right that you sacrifice quality/durability for money in buildings. What is needed of a school in the 50s is not the same as the 90s and not the same as 2030s. The issues happen when the 40 year lifespan are constantly pushed back so we can give the boomers another rise in their unearned pensions.

[alphadog]

Not just schools and hospitals... our local theatre has just just announced it is closing indefinitely due to the possible presence of RAAC. There goes the panto for the next few years.

This is going to be the 'gift' that keeps on giving.

[dsc]

Oh Dear!

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...er-raac-survey

The education secretary, Gillian Keegan, has angered teachers a day after a sweary outburst landed her in trouble, this time claiming headteachers who had not responded to a survey about whether they were affected by crumbling concrete should “get off their backsides”.

Her comments in a radio interview came a day after she was forced to apologise after being caught swearing on camera while expressing frustration about the crisis surrounding reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) in schools, claiming that “everyone else has sat on their arse” while she tried to fix the problem.

Keegan told Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio 2 on Tuesday: “The annoying bit, and this was probably a bit of my frustration yesterday, is despite asking since March 2020, there’s 5% of schools or responsible bodies that have not responded to the survey. Now hopefully all this publicity will make them get off their backsides.

“But what I would like them to do is to respond because I want to be the secretary of state that knows exactly in every school where there is Raac and takes action.”

Gillian should perhaps get of her ass and start doing some proper graft as 95% of schools / bodies did respond to the survey, so the 5% is a bit fecking irrelevant at this point.

I'd love to know how long she / gov bods knew about this.

[SueEllen]

Another footnote in the boomer legacy. Stretch their parents infrastructure out as long as possible and get their grand kids to pay for the replacements.

The US has the same issue but far worst because of their dispersed population providing no economies of scale.

It's right that you sacrifice quality/durability for money in buildings. What is needed of a school in the 50s is not the same as the 90s and not the same as 2030s. The issues happen when the 40 year lifespan are constantly pushed back so we can give the boomers another rise in their unearned pensions.

Have you missed the Tory government particularly under their last 3 leaders shovelling money to their mates?

[JustKeepSwimming]

Have you missed the Tory government particularly under their last 3 leaders shovelling money to their mates?

who voted for them?

[Uncle Albert]

[SueEllen]

who voted for them?

Not me. I had another way....

(Oh and I'm not a boomer. )