Yousaf: No plans to shut Scottish colleges with Raac ‘at this stage’
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cottish ministers don’t have any plans to shut Scottish colleges affected by collapse-risk concrete “at this stage”, Humza Yousaf has stated.
The presence of the bolstered autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) has been detected in 35 colleges to date, in accordance with the Scottish Government.
However, councils are at the moment assessing public buildings throughout Scotland – together with colleges – for the light-weight concrete which was used from the Nineteen Fifties as much as the mid-Nineteen Nineties, with all anticipated to report again subsequent week.
It comes after 104 colleges in England will shut amid the presence of the substance after it was linked to the collapse of Singlewell Primary School’s roof in Kent in 2018.
We don’t assume at this stage that there’s any want for any colleges to close
Speaking to journalists in Edinburgh on Saturday, the First Minister stated ministers “don’t think” colleges will probably be required to maneuver to momentary lodging if the fabric is found.
He stated: “We don’t think at this stage that there’s any need for any schools to shut.”
It comes after Scottish Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth informed the BBC “a relatively small number” of Scottish colleges had been affected in comparison with the two,500 whole.
She stated: “I have a list of schools that are impacted in Scotland, and the mitigations that our local authority partners have put in place will now be considered by officials in Scottish government.
“We’ll look to interrogate some of that data a bit further and also provide reassurance to parents and carers.
“I think it’s really important that our local authorities, who have a statutory responsibility for the delivery of education locally, engage directly with our parents and carers.”
The Scottish Government confirmed on Friday that it expects native authorities to prioritise remedial work the place the substance is positioned.
And it stated pupils is not going to be taught within the components of buildings the place the concrete is taken into account a threat.
Remedial works may embrace the closure of affected rooms or sections of a constructing and the usage of momentary, modular provision for pupils.
According to the Institute of Structural Engineers, the fabric should solely get replaced whether it is thought-about to be in a poor situation and is taken into account excessive threat.
Figures obtained by the Scottish Liberal Democrats in May stated the substance was current in 37 colleges in Scotland.
The information confirmed the sunshine and bubbly type of precast concrete was current in 9 colleges in Dumfries and Galloway, seven in Aberdeen, six in Clackmannanshire and 5 in West Lothian.
Two colleges in Dundee, the Highlands and North Lanarkshire had been additionally discovered to comprise the fabric, in addition to single colleges in Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, East Lothian and Perth and Kinross.