Potentially crumbling RAAC concrete found in Liverpool secondary school

Work is underway to restore areas after potentially crumbling concrete was found in a Liverpool secondary school.

New Department for Education (DfE) data has revealed how Dixons Broadgreen Academy was among 43 locations across the country to have reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in its structure. Earlier this year, it was confirmed 17 schools managed by Liverpool Council had to be assessed for potentially dangerous concrete but none were impacted.

In a statement, Dixons Academies Trust – which manages the Broadgreen school – said impacted areas had to be closed off as a “precautionary measure.”

A full list of schools was released by the DfE last week, taking the number of locations found to have RAAC on site to 214 nationwide. Dixons confirmed its Broadgreen site, which the Trust took over in December 2021, was impacted but outside of the learning environment.

In a statement, a spokesperson said: “Our school was identified as having RAAC present in parts of the building. Although we closed off the affected areas immediately as a precautionary measure, our school was not closed to students because the impacted rooms were not where learning takes place and so did not restrict our ability to deliver lessons to our students.

“Some of the spaces are now back in use, and over the next few months, there is work taking place to restore the remaining areas back to their proper use.”

The Broadgreen school caters for more than 1,200 pupils aged between 11 and 18.

RAAC inspections in Liverpool

A response to a Freedom of Information request to Liverpool Council in September confirmed a number of locations that had been under inspection by the DfE to establish any presence of RAAC in their structures. Among them were two special educational needs (SEND) schools and a maintained primary school.

The Freedom of Information request confirmed Abbot’s Lea in Woolton, Clifford Holroyde in Knotty Ash and Gilmour Primary in Garston had been visited during the latest round of investigations. A site run by an unnamed multi-academy trust (MAT) had also had to close off an area to the public owing to concerns over its building work.

Abbot’s Lea provides education for more than 300 students aged three to 19 living with autism while Clifford Holroyde is a specialist SEND facility for boys aged 11 to 16. It is expected all three sites will have inspections completed by the end of the week.

Further information requests revealed 17 education centres across the city were analysed in 2022.

Structural surveys were carried out by Kier Workplace Services last April at Abercromby Nursery School, Everton Early Childhood Centre, Broadgreen Primary, Fazakerley Primary, Knotty Ash Primary, Monksdown Primary, Norman Pannell, Rice Lane Primary, St Michaels Hamlet Primary, Sudley Juniors, Sudley Infants, Woolton Primary, The Beacon, St Cleopas, St Margaret’s CE Primary, Princes School and Sandfield Park.

RAAC was not identified in any of the 17 sites, but further investigations were carried out at Sudley Juniors, Sandfield Park, Woolton Primary and Monksdown after initial probes took place.