Cornwall Council has confirmed there is “no evidence” that its school buildings are affected by the current concerns regarding unstable concrete.

The Government has announced this week that more than 100 schools, colleges and nursery buildings in England will have to close immediately due to unsafe building structures – just as the new academic year starts next week. 

Buildings that are made with concrete called Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) have been found to be at risk of collapsing. Because of this, the Government will close education settings unless safety measures can be put in place.

It is expected that safety measures will include the use of equipment to prop up ceiling buildings made of RAAC.

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However, on Friday (September 1) Cornwall Council revealed that following investigations, no evidence of the presence of RAAC has been found in schools across the Duchy.

A spokesperson from Cornwall Council told the Packet: “Our investigations have found no evidence of the presence of RAAC in our maintained schools in Cornwall. Academies are liaising directly with the Department for Education, but we have not been made aware of any instances of RAAC being present in their buildings."

The announcement has come just days away from students across the UK returning to school and college next week for the new academic year.

On Thursday (August 31) the Government released a statement on its website about why they have decided to take action now. The statement reads: “Nothing is more important than the health and safety of children and staff.

“This is why we have announced a change in our approach to managing a building material found in some school buildings and other education settings, known as Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC).

“We have been proactively monitoring all confirmed cases of RAAC closely. Recent cases have led to a loss of confidence in buildings containing the material, leading us to advise education settings (schools, colleges and maintained nursery schools) to vacate all spaces or buildings that are known to contain RAAC, unless they already have mitigations in place to make the building safe.

“We’re working hard to make sure any disruption to education is kept to a minimum.”