More than 100 schools told to close buildings over safety fears

Fleurpepper

I wonder if any Private schools are concerned?

A wall has been "secured" at a private school in Perthshire. It is run by the MoD.

Joseann

Of course not, Glorianny, but in a discussion such as this about life and death situations, I wouldn't dream of pitting one group of children against another. Children are children, whoever they maybe, wherever they are educated, whatever, and their safety is paramount. Attack the politicians by all means, I'm in agreement with that, but implying that their children would be immune to upheaval and their schools automatically safe is unfair. They may very well be affected as I confirmed to Fleurpepper earlier.
But no, they wouldnt be sent home or crowded at short notice, because their schools have a team of maintenance staff on hand anyway. Oh, and they work all summer through the holidays.

But one group of children are pitted against another Joseannand it is absolutely nothing to do with me. One group will emerge at the end of their schooling having had little if any interruption. The other group will emerge after years of disruption and chaos. Now which group will do best I wonder?

As for the team of maintenance staff working right through the summer, many people would be willing to do that if they were paid for it. As it is cleaners, secretaries, support staff etc are only paid in term time, would you expect them to work for nothing?

So much going wrong. Perhaps Parliament should be recalled.They have been on leave since 20th July while this country has gone from bad to worse.

We've suffered 13 years of Tory mismanagement. Giving to the rich and taking from the poor. The government doesn't invest in public services anymore. Their children will no doubt be educated privately so it won't matter to them. Can't wait to see them gone before the country is bankrupted

Glorianny

Joseann

Of course not, Glorianny, but in a discussion such as this about life and death situations, I wouldn't dream of pitting one group of children against another. Children are children, whoever they maybe, wherever they are educated, whatever, and their safety is paramount. Attack the politicians by all means, I'm in agreement with that, but implying that their children would be immune to upheaval and their schools automatically safe is unfair. They may very well be affected as I confirmed to Fleurpepper earlier.
But no, they wouldnt be sent home or crowded at short notice, because their schools have a team of maintenance staff on hand anyway. Oh, and they work all summer through the holidays.

But one group of children are pitted against another Joseannand it is absolutely nothing to do with me. One group will emerge at the end of their schooling having had little if any interruption. The other group will emerge after years of disruption and chaos. Now which group will do best I wonder?

As for the team of maintenance staff working right through the summer, many people would be willing to do that if they were paid for it. As it is cleaners, secretaries, support staff etc are only paid in term time, would you expect them to work for nothing?

They are indeed- and none of the children are responsible for this. I've never tried to hide that my GCs and all my nieces and nephews go to top private schools- all in ancient, pre concrete buildings, with some modern extensions.

But yes, it is a fact that this small group will have no suffered from Covid disruptions as other children did, and now this.

Eldest GC will be doing A'Levels this year, and youngest GCSEs- they will work very hard and do brilliantly- and I shall be very proud. But the fact remains, they are at a huge advantage in so so many ways.

The UK press is full of items about schools being closed because of Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete. It is as if this issue has only just surfaced when in fact it was known about in the mid 1980's. I won't go into why I was one of the first people to discover it but I was. The problem was the concrete mix allowed water to penetrate which would cause the steel reinforcement to rust whch woul them SPALL causing minature cracks throughout the block. By the time it was realised tens of thousand of blocks of flats, schools, Hospitals, Governmetn buildings, Police station and even fire engines had been built from this material. The cost or replacement and repair was beyond anyone and the two companies that made it went bankrupt to avoid having to pay out. For years building have been pulled down prematurely to avoid them faling down by themselves. One particular issue was Bridges built of the stuff and to avoid the press finding ou, we put out a cover story that we were X raying the pilllars of bridges especially Spagetti Junction for bodies put in the concrete by criminals when in fact we wer checking them for evidence of decay. WE also left empty flats in blocks so we could install monitoring equipment. There was a detailed plan to be follwed BUT many Government Labour and Conservative have let it slide.

Thank you for this Trurider. Can this be shared?

Are you a structural engineer Trurider? Not all concrete used in buildings encloses steel reinforcement. Who is the ‘we’ that put out a cover story? Which companies went into liquidation to avoid claims? You are anonymous here. If you don’t reply I will consider your post to be a load of hogwash,

Come on GSM, you don't expect this person to leave their contact details here!

Trurider?…fire engines made from the stuff?😂😂😂
That I’ve got to see!

Indeed. Why don’t I believe it?

Well, DH asked if I remembered what was termed "concrete cancer" today.

JPB123

Trurider?…fire engines made from the stuff?😂😂😂
That I’ve got to see!

I do imagine s/he meant to write 'fire stations'.

As for brides- this is seriously concerning. We drove so many ties over the Genoa bridge, including a few months before it collapsed after heavy rain. I imagine it triggered many questions about bridges built in UK and all over the world, at the same time.

Since then, we have driven over those very long bridges in Tuscany twice a year- and I have my heart in my mouth everytime!

There is evidence that the problems were first identified in a 1990 report. So possibly investigations were going on in the 1980s
In the 1990s structural deficiencies in RAAC began to become apparent. During this period, the Building Research Establishment (BRE) undertook a number of inspections of school roofs and in BRE Information Paper IP10/96 reported concerns regarding excessive deflection and cracking in RAAC roofing planks and corrosion to reinforcements. Following this, the widespread use of RAAC in the UK stopped amid concerns over its structural performance and life expectancy
beale-law.com/article/uk-government-launches-inquiry-into-reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac/

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Right, i am going to add to what I previously said. ONE Every Concrete Pour has tto be tested and recorded so back in 1985 WE knew exactly where this stuff was and the likely cost of replacing it in which cases wasn't really possible. The plan was to monitor as it wouldn't all fail at once and replace as necessary BUT several LABOUR and Conservative Government have le the plan slip so neither can blame the other. TWO, There are a mass of empty Office buildings around the Country mostly new and empty. They have large Car park and are cabled up for Computers. They can be rapidly converted into School Premises. They need proper fencing and romm dividers and that is it. JOB DONE.

Sorry, my DGC.

Trurider1

Right, i am going to add to what I previously said. ONE Every Concrete Pour has tto be tested and recorded so back in 1985 WE knew exactly where this stuff was and the likely cost of replacing it in which cases wasn't really possible. The plan was to monitor as it wouldn't all fail at once and replace as necessary BUT several LABOUR and Conservative Government have le the plan slip so neither can blame the other. TWO, There are a mass of empty Office buildings around the Country mostly new and empty. They have large Car park and are cabled up for Computers. They can be rapidly converted into School Premises. They need proper fencing and romm dividers and that is it. JOB DONE.

Trurider, I get the impression you’re actually not an informed poster, just expressing your opinion like everybody else?

I get that impression too. ‘WE’ cannot possibly have known ‘exactly where this stuff was’. All buildings throughout the country? I think not.

And empty office buildings?

You aren’t credible Trurider.

Just a quick reminder; Labour, undet Gordon Brown had set aside £53m to repair these schools, rebuild if necessary. Gove cancelled the programme. Maybe he should be questioned as to his reasons?

HousePlantQueen

Just a quick reminder; Labour, undet Gordon Brown had set aside £53m to repair these schools, rebuild if necessary. Gove cancelled the programme. Maybe he should be questioned as to his reasons?

Austerity, HPQ!

Trurider1

Right, i am going to add to what I previously said. ONE Every Concrete Pour has tto be tested and recorded so back in 1985 WE knew exactly where this stuff was and the likely cost of replacing it in which cases wasn't really possible. The plan was to monitor as it wouldn't all fail at once and replace as necessary BUT several LABOUR and Conservative Government have le the plan slip so neither can blame the other. TWO, There are a mass of empty Office buildings around the Country mostly new and empty. They have large Car park and are cabled up for Computers. They can be rapidly converted into School Premises. They need proper fencing and romm dividers and that is it. JOB DONE.

The school where I taught is one of the worst affected. I know where it is situated and I know for a fact that there is no suitable empty office buildings for a thousand pupils plus staff for miles around.

Job not done!

should be are not is.

Apparently not one school in Merseyside is affected.