Statement – Re-inforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC)

You may have seen concerns in the news about the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in schools and hospitals, including a small amount of media coverage referencing the possibility of its use in social housing.

Registered Social landlords have now received a letter from the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) on RAAC, setting out its expectations for registered landlords In the letter, the SHR has stated that its understanding is that RAAC is not widespread in social housing.

It is therefore important that we update you on what we have done to identify RAAC and our findings to date:

RAAC was used between 1950s and 1990s and was common in large scale commercial build properties. This supports the understanding that our homes do not have RAAC present due to how they were constructed and what year.  In domestic dwellings it is predominantly in large precast panels and in properties with flat roofs and less often in internal and external panels. These panels (or planks) were generally 2 foot wide and are white or light grey in colour with V-shaped grooves at the edges making them easily identifiable.

The technical teams at Albyn have been working for several months to determine if RAAC is present in Albyn homes. We have carried out extensive stock profiling from the comprehensive information held on our database around stock condition, type of construction, year of build and how the floor/wall and ceilings were formed. The analysis of this information supports our understanding that RAAC is not present. In the build period when RAAC was used from 1950-1999, Albyn have a total of 1,324 homes which are of either traditional build type or are ‘no fines’ which is a different composition of materials to RAAC. We have reviewed each of these properties and can confirm that RAAC was not used due to the build type. However, as an additional measure of assurance for Albyn Group, our tenants, and to reply formally to the SHR Albyn has instructed an accredited specialist stock condition surveyor to review and validate our findings.

By conducting our review and seeking professional advice Albyn can achieve the best outcome for our tenants and provide you with assurance on this important matter.

Albyn trusts this information will be helpful to you and allays any concerns you may have. In the meantime, if you have any concerns or wish to speak to us about RAAC then please contact us by calling 0300 323 0990 or emailing office@albynhousing.org.uk.