Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) across the public sector in Scotland

Scottish Government Engagement Forums

RAAC has been routinely discussed by the Building and Fire Safety: Ministerial Working Group since December 2022 (with minutes of meetings published on the website).

In addition, as indicated above, while individual areas were already closely involved in RAAC assessment, a developing awareness of the wider issues involved led to the establishment of the Scottish Government led RAAC Cross Sector Working Group (CSWG) the first meeting of which took place on 14 August 2023.

The remit of the Group is to provide an opportunity for key stakeholders to share  information on their awareness and action on RAAC as an issue and identify opportunities to work collaboratively to develop or continue their response to the issue. Members of the Group are from relevant sectors with responsibility for the management of safety in the buildings they own or operate, as well as from academia and the construction industry. Minutes of the CSWG are published on the CSWG website with the Group itself reporting to the Building and Fire Safety Ministerial Working Group.

The Group has subsequently established two sub-groups – the RAAC in Housing Sub-group and the RAAC Management Sub-group – with information about these sub-groups also available via the main group’s webpage.

The RAAC in Housing Sub-group provides an opportunity for housing stakeholders to have focused discussions about RAAC in domestic settings to help build an understanding of RAAC in housing in Scotland by sharing intelligence and disseminating the latest information.

The members of the group are from relevant organisations in the sector, including housing providers with the responsibility for the management of safety in the buildings they own or operate, umbrella organisations representing building owners and other experts in the field.

The RAAC Management Sub-group seeks to develop as informed a view as possible of the issues involved in managing RAAC in order to support as effective a ‘best practice’ response as possible through engagement with key sectoral estate interests as well as construction industry representatives.

The Sub-group is open to representatives of organisations, including from the public and private sectors, academic, professional and industry bodies with an interest in RAAC.

Finally, Scottish Government officials also routinely engage with UK Government officials as well as officials in the other devolved Governments.