Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC): Cross Sector Working Group minutes 19 November 2024

Attendees and apologies

Scottish Government

• Building Standards Division (Chair)
• Health and Social Care Finance, Digital and Governance
• Justice
• Lifelong Learning and Skills
• Scottish Procurement and Property

External stakeholders

• Aberdeen City Council

• Falkirk Council

• Fife Council

• Health and Safety Executive

• Historic Environment Scotland

• Institution of Structural Engineers

• Manufacturing Technology Centre

• Mott Macdonald

• Nationwide Building Society

• NHS Scotland Assure

• Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

• Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service

• Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

• Scottish Funding Council

• Scottish Prison Service

• Scottish Property Federation

• UK Finance

Items and actions

Welcome, minutes and actions of the previous meeting

The minute of the previous meeting was agreed without change.

Actions from the previous meeting were noted as complete with the exception of 13.3 which was in progress.

Presentation

A presentation was provided by Mott MacDonald concerning a RAAC roof collapse in a non-public sector building. The property had been previously assessed and evacuated in line with the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) risk classification guidance.

Attendees noted that the main contributory factors in the roof collapse were the presence of rooflights cut into the RAAC planks and the saturation of the panels due to ongoing leaks and particularly heavy rainfall (local weather data recording a 20% increase in rain in recent years).

Given the issue had been identified with appropriate measures in place the risk assessment process - and guidance - were deemed to be effective. However, it was recommended that in areas containing rooflights built into RAAC roofs - or where RAAC panels had been cut or trimmed without appropriate reinforcement - should be classed as high-risk.

The report of the incident was currently with Collaborative Reporting for Safer Structures UK (CROSS-UK) for consideration and publication.

In discussion, the following points were raised:

• the effects of water on RAAC panels is a known issue (referenced in Siporex guidance)
• it was understood that the rooflights were an original installation (rather than a later addition)
• the importance of always following the original advice on how to use a product

RAAC response - lessons learned

A draft report of the lessons learned and debrief exercise was presented to the group with an outline provided of the process and resulting recommendations.

In general, responses were positive regarding the effectiveness of the central organisational response to RAAC as an issue. The report contained a number of recommendations including around the early communication of key messages and ensuring meetings served a clear purpose. The need for a building safety forum (with four nations involvement) which would help identify potential future building safety issues was also raised.

The report would be given further consideration at the next meeting of the Ministerial Working Group on Building and Fire Safety.

Action 14.1 - comments on the report to be provided by Friday 22 November

Future of the CSWG - discussion

A short paper was introduced providing some background to the establishment of the RAAC Cross Sector Working Group and inviting attendees to discuss the future role of the Group.

Attendees considered whether the Group should have a remit beyond RAAC to allow for discussion of a range of other building safety issues; the membership of the Group going forward, and how often the Group should continue to meet.

Points raised in discussion included:

• the importance of retaining a forum for considering the number of unresolved housing related issues
• whether or not there was scope for greater involvement of private sector interests

It was noted that engagement with the private sector was not extensive with suggestions welcomed for how to improve this. Assurance was also given that engagement with housing specific interests would continue given the importance of the issue of RAAC in the housing sector with the next meeting of the Housing sub-group scheduled for December.

Action 14.2 - views of members on the future of the CSWG by Friday 29 November

Sector updates by exception

No updates were provided.

The Chair noted that the Scottish Government had published a report on the update and overview of the discovery and assessment phase in respect of the presence of RAAC across the public sector in Scotland. The report was available on the webpages of the Ministerial Working Group on Building and Fire Safety.

AOB

An update on the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) playbook would be circulated to the Group.

No update was available on further research, which itself was dependent both on there being interest and the availability of funding. Attendees observed that the focus of any future research should now be on the longer-term management of RAAC (rather than assessment) including risk assessing its longevity.

The group noted that Loughborough University had been in contact with NHS Scotland Assure regarding a pilot site for potential research as they seek to establish a comprehensive monitoring, analysis, interpretation, and advisory capability for RAAC.

End of meeting