"Aerocrete" concrete; how bad is the situation?

[SteveTheElder]

Anybody have any idea how much (or if) RAAC was used in major civil engineering projects such as road bridges?

 

[Gammyleg]

Having worked in the Civils industry on roads and bridges for the last 40 years I can say I've never come across any RAAC. 

For the last 10 years I've moved Into buildings and again never seen it used.

Have just done some work this week with foam concrete (similar principle) but this was for void filling of redundant underground tanks.

In that regard, its the best of gear.

[skomaz]

1 hour ago, Gammyleg said:

Having worked in the Civils industry on roads and bridges for the last 40 years I can say I've never come across any RAAC. 

For the last 10 years I've moved Into buildings and again never seen it used.

Have just done some work this week with foam concrete (similar principle) but this was for void filling of redundant underground tanks.

In that regard, its the best of gear.

 

Same here - never seen RAAC specified or used other than for certain applications such as light weight pre-cast slabs etc. in buildings.

[Jim H]

This vid seams to give a good explanation of RAAC and what may have caused the sudden failure in roofs built with it.

 

 

[Ootohere]

Over 40 schools in Scotland and over 100 NHS buildings affected.

Likely more than this will be identified.

 

Give the population of Scotland is just 8% of that in England surely there are likely to be many more that are being reported as affected in England.

[@Lee]

Wow. A piece on Channel 4 news about RAAC. A hospital with 150 - 180 props in place and six wards closed. The kitchen closed and making do in the staff canteen. 4000 RAAC planks in place.

That's just one hospital. 

 

Edited 14 September, 2023 by @Lee

[skomaz]

2 minutes ago, @Lee said:

Wow. A piece on Channel 4 news about RAAC. A hospital with 150 - 180 props in place and six wards closed. The kitchen closed and making do in the staff canteen.

 

 

Is that the one in Kings Lynn Queen Elizabeth?

[@Lee]

17 minutes ago, skomaz said:

 

Is that the one in Kings Lynn Queen Elizabeth?

Sorry I didn't catch the name. I was watching a YouTube vid about setting up my new astrophotography mount on my phone so missed the start of the piece. 

[@Lee]

Another school today. 1600 kids sent home with minimal warning despite the DfE originally saying the mitigation in place was OK. School now closed for the foreseeable.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1702598544769606099.html

@skomaz Pembrokeshire. Here's the report I partially caught last night. 

https://www.channel4.com/news/raac-crisis-pembrokeshire-hospital-closes-more-than-half-its-wards

 

Edited 15 September, 2023 by @Lee

[@Lee]

Twenty more schools have been found to have RAAC. Apparently the total of schools with RAAC now stands at 174. 
Source: the radio.

[skomaz]

Good that they're still surveying so they can do something about it when it's found...

[@Lee]

13 hours ago, skomaz said:

Good that they're still surveying so they can do something about it when it's found...

 

Indeed. In the meantime kids and educators are being forced into portacabins as we approach the colder months. 

 

Gillian Keegan said yesterday that kids are quite happy having lessons in portacabins.

My experience from the lessons I had in portacabins is they were sweltering in summer and freezing in winter.

I think she maybe, just maybe, she's talking out of her arse and doesn't have a clue what she's talking about.

Edited 19 September, 2023 by @Lee

[skomaz]

I spent much of my primary and secondary education in portacabins in very large state schools that were in disrepair (the latter was flattened and rebuilt as art of the original BSF project).  Certainly not ideal but you make the best of it and at least I was still being educated.

[@Lee]

1 hour ago, skomaz said:

I spent much of my primary and secondary education in portacabins in very large state schools that were in disrepair (the latter was flattened and rebuilt as art of the original BSF project).  Certainly not ideal but you make the best of it and at least I was still being educated.

If portacabins are so great and preferred by kids then why doesn't every public school have them?
Maybe the kids prefer them because there's less chance of concrete falling on their heads 🤷‍♂️

Edited 20 September, 2023 by @Lee

[skomaz]

2 hours ago, @Lee said:

If portacabins are so great and preferred by kids then why doesn't every public school have them?
Maybe the kids prefer them because there's less chance of concrete falling on their heads 🤷‍♂️

 

Good question - I'm not sure who said they were great and preferred but my guess the answer is that fee paying schools have the cash needed (or donations) for permanent facilities.

 

Personally I'd not be too bothered about concrete falling on my head 🤣

[MikeTheThinker]

5 hours ago, skomaz said:

concrete (keeps) falling on my head

Over to Slasher Distel, then?

[Warrior193]

On 20/09/2023 at 09:18, skomaz said:

I spent much of my primary and secondary education in portacabins in very large state schools that were in disrepair (the latter was flattened and rebuilt as art of the original BSF project).  Certainly not ideal but you make the best of it and at least I was still being educated.

I spent most of my secondary education (private/religious) in the mid-60s in pre-fabs - then portacabins after the pre-fab block burnt down.

Fire investigation revealed most likely cause was sneaky fag butt stuffed into wall cavity!

The whole site was covered with pieces of exploded asbestos sheeting from the roofs and side cladding. 

Edited 22 September, 2023 by Warrior193
added information