They include shops, cafes and community centres
The crisis in 2023 saw schools in other parts of the country close(Image: PA)
Two years after the crumbly concrete crisis forced schools across England to suddenly close there are many buildings left in Bristol which could be affected. Bristol City Council owns a lot of buildings across the city and has still not yet inspected all of them to check for crumbly concrete.
Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete was often used in constructing public buildings across the country, such as offices, community centres and nurseries. RAAC is less durable than traditional concrete, due to being full of tiny bubbles, and can collapse if it gets too wet.
Earlier this summer, City Hall bosses admitted that more than 200 council-owned buildings still needed inspections for RAAC, but did not say which ones. Now a response to a Freedom of Information request has revealed the long list of affected buildings which could still have RAAC.
These include a warehouse storing important public records, libraries, community centres, shops and cafes. No maintained schools are affected, as the council inspected all of these in 2023. But the list raises questions about the length of time the inspections are taking.
The council was asked why the inspections are taking so long to complete, when the inspections are planned, and what level of risk there is to the affected buildings. A response was not provided by the time this article was published.
Around 1,000 council buildings have already been inspected, and no RAAC was found. Council bosses faced questions from councillors on the housing policy committee in May about when the surveys will be carried out on the remaining buildings.
Speaking to councillors in May, Clare Gibb, transformation director of building safety, said: “I’m acutely aware that these inspections are outstanding. We’re procuring appropriate resources at pace. If that inspection highlights the need for more destructive surveys, obviously we will let the people who live there know.
“I’m hoping to start the visual inspection mid-summer. At this moment in time, we have to rule it out for all of our stock. If we find some, we’ll have to come back with a plan of what we’re going to do about it.”
The list of buildings that still need to have a RAAC survey include:
- The A Bond warehouse
- Avonmouth Community Centre
- Bamfield Scout Premises
- Bristol Sailing School
- Brunel’s Buttery
- Brunswick Square Kiosk
- Cashmore Early Years Centre
- Cotman Walk Scout hut
- The former Eastville Library
- Felix Road adventure playground
- Units at Freeling House
- Girl Guide HQ
- Knowle Library
- Lockleaze adventure playground
- Lockside Cafe
- Mud Dock toilets and changing rooms
- Plimsoll Bridge watch tower
- Portway picnic area public toilets
- Redcatch Community Centre
- Scout resource centre
- Sea Mills Scout premises
- Shirehampton signal station
- Southville Centre
- Trenchard Street multi-storey car park depot
- Trinity Lodge
- Units at Waring House
- Part of the Ardagh Pavilion
- Bristol Bowling Club premises
- Castle Park parks depot
- Durdham Down dressing rooms
- Harrington Road Scout hut
- Malcom X Centre
- Muller Road playing fields pavilion
- Spike Island Art Centre
- St George Riding School
- Lawrence Weston youth club
- South Bristol Intermediate Care Centre
- St Andrews Park Bowling Club
- St Annes Park changing rooms
- St Bernadettes rugby club premises
- Whitehall rugby club