When the flat roof of Singlewell primary school in Gravesend, Kent, fell in five years ago, there was no sign of structural stress until 24 hours before it gave way. Luckily it happened at the weekend, and no one was hurt. But the incident had far-reaching consequences. The roof was made of RAAC, which stands for reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete. This was regularly used instead of normal concrete in public buildings in the UK from the 1960s until the mid-1980s, and its lifespan is at an end. The risk that a hospital ceiling could collapse in a similar way has now led to significant reshaping of the government’s hospital rebuilding plans.
An announcement by the health secretary, Steve Barclay, last week set out what these alterations would entail. Five hospitals built from RAAC, in Keighley, King’s Lynn, Huntingdon, Leighton and Surrey, will join the two (West Suffolk and James Paget) that are already on the government’s priority list. All seven projects are to be completed by 2030. Conservative MPs including Michael Gove, who campaigned on behalf of their local hospitals and were thanked by Mr Barclay, will no doubt thank him in return. The increased clarity is overdue and welcome.
