October 13, 2023
RAAC checks have been taking place across the country. Moray Council had previously declared there was none in the area then it was found in a High School, now all properties are being checked.
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I have previously discussed RAAC, what it is and why it is problematic. You can see that post (link: https://propertyblog.scot/blog/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete text: here).
Moray Council had responded to a Freedom of Information request (FOI) recently that received the following reply.
>A review of Moray Council's properties has established that based on the information we hold there are no buildings within the Council's ownership which contain autoclaved aerated concrete. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.
It was an embarrassing backtrack for Moray Council who had previously declared there was no RAAC to be found then closed Forres Academy as it had been found. This now means they will need to go examine all buildings including homes to ensure RAAC is not present.
Having been commonly used in the 1950s and early 60s you would think that checking the records would be easy. Not so. Many of the records held on buildings within the Moray area are more than 70 years old which means they can't tell just from looking at records if RAAC is present.
The main issue with RAAC is that it's got a lifespan and at the end of it there is a possibility of collapse. That is exactly what happened to a school in Kent.
Hopefully Moray council will act quickly and review their stock to ensure there is no imminent danger, in particular with public buildings such as schools and be open with their investigations.
Lee Wisener
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