Moray Council accused of publishing ‘incorrect’ information about RAAC concrete in FOI response

The local authority says they had "no knowledge" of RAAC in Forres Academy until a discovery by structural engineers in school holidays.

By Sean McAngus

September 21 2023, 5:00 pm

Work is ongoing to address concerns about the concrete at Forres Academy.. Forres . Image: Jason Hedges/ Design team

Moray Council is under fire amid accusations they published incorrect information about reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

In March, the local authority said no buildings under their ownership contained RAAC in response to a Freedom of Information request.

Fast-forward around five months, engineers discovered the material in a number of Forres Academy classrooms.

Work is ongoing to address concerns about the concrete which updated guidance revealed has flaws with durability, especially when wet.

Concerns have been raised about the local authority giving out the wrong information regarding an important subject.

Forres Academy was closed after RAAC concrete was found to be more “high risk” than thought. Image: Jason Hedges/DC Thomson

Concerns over wrong information

The material used between the 1950s and 1990s was seen as a cheaper and lighter alternative to concrete.

It continues to hit the headlines.

Liberal Democrats leader Neil Alexander.

Moray Lib Dem leader Neil Alexander has raised concerns.

He said: “It is shocking to have found out that Moray Council gave out false information, in particular when it comes to safe building materials in places such as our children’s schools.

“They need to assess every building in council ownership to establish the facts.

“There needs to be an investigation into why wrong information was given for a response to a freedom of information request about such an important safety issue.”

What is Moray Council’s response?

A Moray Council spokeswoman said: “At the time of the FOI response our desktop investigations, which involved researching our records of our buildings, including schools, showed we had no knowledge of the presence of RAAC.

“That is not uncommon in building records from the era (1960s) as RAAC was a standard building material at the time.

“We moved into a programme of inspection following the desktop review of properties identified as potentially being at risk of containing RAAC.”

She explained that it was structural engineers’ invasive investigations during the school holidays that identified RAAC in Forres Academy.

Meanwhile the process has been replicated across the school estate and officials are “confident” in the findings of no RAAC in other schools.

She added: “While the focus has been on the learning estate we’ve followed the same process with the council’s other non-residential buildings where we have undertaken desktop reviews, site inspections and invasive inspections and through this work we have not identified any other non-residential building containing RAAC.”