In common with thousands of public organisations across the UK, we have been carefully assessing whether reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) is present within any building materials on our campus.
Following a detailed survey of all our buildings(more than 500) involving expert external consultants, we are pleased to confirm that very little RAAC has been found in any of our buildings.
RAAC has been identified in our single-storey Humanities building and we closed it from Monday 18 September.All activity that was due to take place has been reallocated to other buildings to minimise any disruption. Access to the nearby Psychology department continues as normal.
RAAC has also been identified in three other buildings which have wider student / public access – Butterworth Hall, part of the Science Block D Engineering Hall and part of the L3 lecture room in Chemistry Block.
Theseareasremain open as they are not considered to pose any immediate risk and their roofs have been assessed to be in good condition. They aresubject to regular reviews and inspectionsin line with expert advice.
Mitigation measures are being designed,procured and installed to give long-term improvements.
We will keep our community informed and we’re sorry that there has been some disruption to a small number of people. We thank them for their understanding in keeping our community safe.
Updated Monday4December 2023
FAQs
RAAC, or reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete is a form of concrete used from the 1960s until the 1990s. It was mainly used in roofs and public buildings across this period.
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors says: “RAAC has proven to be not as durable as other concrete building materials. It generally has a lifespan of 30 years, although can last longer if the building is well-maintained. There is a risk it can fail, particularly if it has been damaged by water ingress from leaking roofs which causes corrosion of the reinforcement, excessive thermal degradation, or if it was not formed correctly when originally made. Later RAAC planks are known to use galvanised steel or stainless-steel reinforcing bars, and are of less concern provided the roof is kept watertight.”
Following a detailed survey of more than 500 buildings involving expert external consultants, we are pleased to confirm that very little RAAC has been found in any of our buildings. RAAC has however been found in three public-facing buildings with staff or student access that remain open.
RAAC has also been identified in a very small number of restricted access areas.
RAAC has been identified in our single-storey Humanities building and as a precaution, we have taken the decision to close it from Monday 18 September 2023.
RAAC has also been identified in other buildings which have wider student / public access – Butterworth Hall and the Engineering Hall. Both will remain open. Neither are considered to pose any immediate risk and their roofs have been assessed to be in good condition.
RAAC has also been identified in the single lecture room (L3) of the Chemistry building, this will remain open, it is not considered to pose any immediate risk, and we will continue to monitor the conditions.
All buildings with RAAC will be subject to regular reviews and inspections and mitigation measures will also be put in place over the coming weeks.
Only the single-storey section of the Humanities building is closed and all those affected have now been relocated.
We will continue to use Butterworth Hall, Science Block D Engineering Hall and Chemistry L3. We expect the single-storey part of the Humanities building to be closed indefinitely as mitigation measures are uneconomic given the anticipated lifespan of the building.
Our RAAC Action Group is meeting frequently and is made up a range of technical experts and operational staff, who are working hard to respond to concerns and ensure the process and mitigations are managed safely and effectively.
We are in regular contact with all the departments impacted and will continue to keep people informed. Our wider community will be kept updated through posts on insite and through student communications. If you have any queries in the meantime, you can contact
We have set up a dedicated email address () for people to get in touch with any additional questions that are not covered in our update message and FAQs.
This account will be regularly monitored by members of our Estates team. They will respond as quickly as they can.
