Ministers have ordered intrusive structural surveys of a group of ageing, postwar school buildings in England amid mounting concern about hidden defects that could lead to structural failures.
After the reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) crisis, which closed schools and prompted mass inspections, the government is concerned about thousands of “system-built” school structures that could pose a safety risk.
A report by the National Audit Office last year identified 3,600 system-built school blocks out of a total of 13,800 that “may be more susceptible to deterioration”.
After months of delays, contractors have finally been appointed to investigate the buildings, which were constructed between 1945 and 1990 and have outlived their design life. Experts said it was almost inevitable that some schools would be found not to meet safety standards and need to close.
The revelation comes as part of a Guardian investigation into the dilapidated state of public buildings in England, with analysis finding that thousands of schools, hospitals and courts are in need of urgent repair, and in some cases pose a risk of serious injury.
Construction experts say part of the problem is that so little is known about the methods and materials used when the “system-built” schools were erected, cheaply, at speed and often with few records, after the devastation of the second world war.
The Department for Education (DfE) has previously identified Laingspan and Intergrid system builds as potentially problematic after two urgent school building closures. One followed the collapse of a wall and the other the identification of severe structural weaknesses.
Surveyors will not go on site until research has been carried out to improve understanding of the issues affecting this group of buildings. Once complete, a representative sample of about 100 postwar school buildings will be selected for full structural surveys and qualitative research.
The team, on a £5m, year-long contract, will then use modelling to map the prevalence of future structural risks and make recommendations on how to mitigate them.
Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said: “We have long warned that the school buildings crisis runs far deeper than Raac. It is important that the DfE is very clear about the total number of schools affected and therefore vital that this work is completed as quickly as possible and that investigations are quickly scaled up based on the findings.”
Alongside asbestos and Raac, prefabricated postwar school structures are the main safety concern for the DfE, which oversees a vast and deteriorating school estate made up of about 22,000 state schools, the maintenance of which has been critically underfunded for years.
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Data analysis by the Guardian has revealed that one in six schoolchildren are studying in schools that either need major work done or are in a relatively poor building condition.
Almost 729,000 pupils study in a school that the government or responsible body believes needs major rebuilding or refurbishment due to ongoing safety issues or the general dilapidated condition of the buildings.
In the autumn budget, the Labour government committed an additional £1.4bn to the school rebuilding programme, with a further £2.1bn to maintain and improve school buildings, an increase of £300m on last year.
Whiteman said the extra investment was welcome but warned: “It will only scratch the surface of the chronic level of need that has built up in schools over the last 14 years. Parts of the school estate are in a really poor condition and that goes far wider than the issues with Raac which came to public attention last year, with children being taught in buildings supported by poles and in draughty portable cabins.
“It’s not acceptable and it’s not fair for pupils, parents or staff. Far more needs to be invested to restore the school estate to a satisfactory condition, something a 2021 DfE survey suggested would cost £11.4bn, and that really should be the minimum ambition.”
The DfE’s 2023-24 annual report flags possible school building collapse as one of its six key risks, describing it as critical – very likely.
It says: “While general deterioration of building condition increases the risk of building collapse, of greatest concern are buildings constructed post-1945 that use materials or designs that are past their intended design life and could be subject to defects that increase the risk of collapse.
“If buildings have not been carefully monitored and maintained by responsible bodies, the risk of structural failure increases.”
Chris Goodier, a professor of construction engineering and materials at Loughborough University, said there were more than 100 types of system builds involving different materials, manufacture processes and assembly methods.
“They are all deteriorating and we don’t understand them,” he said. “It’s almost inevitable they will find some schools that don’t meet current safety standards and they will have to close them while they repair them. If they discover something bad, they will have to act quite decisively.”
A DfE spokesperson said: “For too long our school estate has been neglected – but this government is now gripping the issue, ensuring our schools are fit for the future. We are assessing the condition of the education estate through our condition data collection programme and have commissioned further research to better understand future issues that could present themselves as the school and college estate ages, focusing on postwar construction.”
Source: theguardian.com
