Revealed: Aberdeen’s Denburn Medical Centre condemned over crumbling concrete fears

NHS staff were forced to move out of Aberdeen’s Denburn Medical Centre after it was found to have been built using unsafe RAAC material.

Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete was used between the 1950s and the 1990s as a cheaper and lighter alternative to concrete.

The material, which has been known to crumble, was discovered at the Rosemount Viaduct practice.

It had been earmarked for closure anyway, but it has now emerged that the alarming discovery accelerated its demise.

NHS Grampian made the decision to shut the site last month as it was deemed “no longer suitable”.

Staff relocated to Carden House, just a ten-minute walk away, on September 20.

Patients of the Aberdeen medical centre were sent letters advising them of the change.

Denburn Medical Practice one of RAAC affected NHS Grampian sites

NHS Scotland warned the concrete is potentially vulnerable to “catastrophic failure without warning”.

Members of the Grampian health board’s property team carried out an exercise to identify buildings in the region that could have been affected by the worrying material.

They found 54 sites that could have been at risk, which have since been surveyed.

While some final reports are still to be received, NHS Grampian’s deputy chief executive Dr Adam Coldwells said he was “pleased” that the problem material is “not present” in many of the identified buildings.

But NHS Grampian also admitted the ‘bubbly’ concrete has been found in the Labs building at Foresterhill.

Aberdeen Royal Infirmary has 14 areas of concern, including its cardiac department, mortuary and even its corridors.

The city’s Maternity Hospital and Dental School are also affected.

But the health board has stressed that those attending the hospital should “go about their normal business”.

Council homes also under review

The NHS update comes as 22,000 council homes in Aberdeen are currently being reviewed for RAAC.

So far, it is believed that around 500 homes in Balnagask have been affected.

Although the local authority doesn’t expect to have many homes built with RAAC, it has independent structural engineers on the case to see if more investigations are needed.