Carol Lawrie worked two jobs as a single mum to cover her mortgage.
She moved into her home in Pentland Road 26 years ago as a council tenant.
But the mother leaped at the chance in 2001 to buy the house from Aberdeen City Council.
Now she faces many months more of not knowing what lies in store due to the reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) in her roof.
“You wouldn’t be able to print how I feel. I’m devastated,” she tells The Press and Journal.
She and daughter Sandi, who grew up in that house, are among around 50 protestors outside Marischal College on Thursday morning.
Over the sound of “WE SHALL NOT, WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED!” on the PA system, she strains to be heard in the cutting cold wind.
Will Torry’s Raac-affected council properties be left to rack and ruin?
Used as a cheaper, lighter concrete alternative between the 50s and 90s, Raac is posing problems across the country.
The potentially dangerous building material thrust Aberdeen into the national headlines.
In February city bosses confirmed the ‘aero’ concrete would force hundreds from their homes.
As a private owner, Carol is not one of them – and faces neighbours in council homes on either side being moved while she’s left behind.
She says: “I was a single parent working hard at two jobs to pay the mortgage.
“I have now paid off the mortgage and this is such a kick in the teeth.
“I have two council tenants next door and if they are moved out and the properties are left to go to rack and ruin, that will affect me too.
“And I certainly don’t have the money to get a survey of the roof – we need help with those.
“As a start, the council needs to be honest with us – why are they are moving people out and not coming back?
“It’s this sitting, waiting and not knowing that is worst.”
How big is the Torry Raac problem?
Later, there’s movement on that issue at a meeting of Aberdeen City Council’s housing committee.
Councillors agree that local authority tenants will have the option of moving back to the area… if homes are left standing and repaired.
And if the local authority deems demolition the best way forward, its tenants moved away from Balnagask would have first refusal on any new homes built in the area.
The city still owns 366 Raac-affected homes in that pocket of Torry, though 72 are empty. Their fate could be decided within five months.
Private owners of former council homes – who are left to struggle with surveyors, insurers and mortgage lenders on their own – have bought another 138.
So far, the council has set aside 123 properties ready for council tenants being decanted from their homes.
‘This feels like a clearance’
Robert Craig and his “broken-hearted” wife Elaine are among the homeowners who might be left behind.
They have lived in their Farquhar Road home, bought from the council, for 47 years.
Back outside Marischal College, the mistrust of the local authority is raised again, as Robert complains of council cards being kept “close to the chest”.
Further along Farquhar Road, his council tenant daughter Nicola has already been told to start packing.
Her father adds: “More truth, more honesty, would be a good start.
“What would we like? A new roof, if possible. But if it’s bad enough that we have to move, we need a fair price for our house.
“I would like to fight to stay. But this feels like a clearance.
“We have no problem living there. The value of our house is… nothing now.
“We can’t look at houses. I’m 73 so I can’t get a mortgage. It’s a nightmare really.”
Balnagask 82-year-old thought he had moved house for the last time
Through the Broad Street bluster, protestors in chief lead a chorus of “STOP THE RAAC! DON’T LET IT CRACK!”
Marshall Harper from Grampian Road is among the dozens joining in too.
His 82-year-old brother stays in a council flat in Farquhar Road. But can’t attend the protest due to mobility issues.
Marshall tells us: “My brother thought he would see out his life in the home he is in right now, but we have all this upheaval that we have to try and find a home that’s suitable for him.
“Seemingly we get two offers. If we refuse the first, we get a second. And if we fail in taking that one, he will be made homeless.”
So far 41 households have been offered a move.
A total of eight have accepted a new council home, three have taken places with housing associations while another three have turned the local authority down.
‘We will fight to the end to keep our home’
A woman, who works for the council and is cagey about giving us her name, complains of the “stress and anxiety caused by no one knowing”.
She has family in four different council households, all stressed by the prospect of a move to an as yet undecided part of Aberdeen.
“Until decisions are made by the council on what they’re doing then homeowners I know can’t move forward,” she says.
“Is there a point in them paying for surveyors if the decision is to demolish?
“Fix the roofs. That’s it. Fix the roofs, and if people do want to move from Torry, they can sell their properties at a price that they deserve.
“Nobody should be forced to move.”
Her sentiments are shared by the Orlowskis, a family of five who have owned their home in Burnbank Terrace for 16 years.
Dad Krzysztof, mainly speaking to us through son Jacek, has been up in the rafters to have a look at the problem for himself.
“The council hasn’t helped. From our understanding, everything is fine having looked at our roof.
“There has been no help with my limited English,” the Pole adds.
“We feel this is all an excuse. I think it’s to do with the new harbour.
“We see no reason to leave our home, it’s close to our work and to my daughter’s school.”
Jacek adds: “We’re fighting until the end to stay in our home.”
Council housing and support officers have been offering translators throughout the huge consultation, housing convener Miranda Radley says.
Torry councillor: ‘Raac harbour housing myth is b*****ks’
But Torry and Ferryhill Conservative councillor Michael Kusznir posted earlier this month on social media, debunking the harbour myth.
It was a rumour that started as soon as letters informing council tenants of their evacuation were opened.
Mr Kusznir wrote: “[I] appreciate the scepticism of many in Torry about Aberdeen City Council.
“However, [it’s] worth putting on the record that reports that people are being decanted from their homes to make way for Port of Aberdeen cruise properties is b*****ks.
“Surveyor reports showed critical issues – move out ASAP.”
Hope for private Torry homeowners
For an hour or more, the band of 50 or so protestors shout, as the odd councillor comes to hear their concerns.
Torry and Ferryhill’s Christian Allard is the first to be seen. The SNP council co-leader leaves before his Lib Dem counterpart Ian Yuill arrives.
They are greeted with more chanting: “WHAT DO WE WANT? JUSTICE! WHEN DO WE WANT IT? NOW!”
Bright Torry Community Raac Campaign (TCRC) placards in purple, blue, green and red are bold against the drizzly grey granite.
Labour’s councillor Simon Watson is there too.
It’s the Torry and Ferryhill member who convinces the rest of the housing committee to offer those evacuated from Balnagask a conditional return.
And he claims hope for the private tenants, in the majority in the public gallery, too by tasking council chiefs with searching for “any available funding” to help them too.
Aberdeen Raac campaign won’t let homeowners be left ‘in the shadows’
Chants continue as the procession snakes to the Town House, kettling themselves among the pillars of its forecourt.
They queue and are made to surrender their loudhailer and banners as they make their way into the modern extension of the city’s civic headquarters – itself a victim of the Raac crisis.
There’s applause for the newly installed chairwoman of the TCRC, Hannah Chowdhry, as she makes a case for as much support as possible.
She and her father Wilson are clapped as councillors are booed and hissed whenever they ask questions.
They come with a wishlist, together calling for Aberdeen City Council to acknowledge its responsibility for using Raac in building the homes.
They also want immediate financial assistance for inspections and potential repairs.
And they urge the local authority to conduct a thorough investigation into the use of Raac and the sale of the former council homes.
Councillors on the housing committee perhaps breathe a sigh of relief as it is made clear that they don’t have the power to sign off on the spend.
‘This is a pivotal moment in the Raac crisis’
But Wilson thinks the campaigners have set the tone of debate to be had in Aberdeen, Scotland and across the UK as Raac is uncovered.
The Chowdhrys’ charge is not bound by city limits. Their petition demanding action has 700 signatures.
It’s attracting attention across the world – council co-leader Allard even says his mum has seen it on the TV news in France.
And the father and daughter Chowdhry duo have now pressed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, as well as the UK, Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh housing ministers, for a public inquiry into the Raac crisis.
Speaking in Aberdeen, the PM ruled out extra money for Raac-hit residents the day after the Torry bombshell dropped.
As the protestors part ways outside the Town House, Wilson tells The P&J: “It is positive there is now going to discussion about what can be done to assist homeowners financially.
“That’s what we came here to achieve in a sense – to ensure homeowners aren’t left in the shadows and ignored.
“This is going to be a pivotal moment in the Raac crisis. Decisions made now in Aberdeen will no doubt affect councils across the country.
“Making 150 homeowners homeless would be a major failing and an international blight on the UK – not just Aberdeen.
“If a national budget to deal with Raac were created, that would make the situation Aberdeen City Council – and many other struggling local authorities – face simpler.”
He adds: “We feel Aberdeen has not only duty of care, but a moral responsibility as they built these homes with this inferior substandard concrete. And then they sold them on.”
Torry Raac homes ‘built to housing standards’ of the time
But, inside, the council’s chief capital officer John Wilson had already refuted that.
“We became aware of Raac in public buildings in around August 2022,” he told councillors.
“We then started to investigate our current housing stock, and with regard to the presence of Raac in council houses [the council became aware in] around September 2023.
“It is correct to say it was the view of the council that these houses were built to building regulations and housing standards, up until then.”
No council homes elsewhere in Aberdeen contain Raac, Mr Wilson says.
A search will soon begin in the council’s many commercial properties.
Wilson Chowdhry promises the protestors will be back in number at a future council meeting where financial assistance will be discussed.
By then, he wants another 9,300 people to sign the 700-signature strong Raac petition.
Read more:
- Tory Scottish Secretary says English councils are dealing with Raac crisis – and so should Aberdeen
- Torry Raac crisis Q&A: Officials reveal cash pledge to tenants amid hopes for moves to be completed ‘over summer’
- Aberdeen City Council has a frequently asked questions page on its website for tenants and owners impacted by Raac.
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