How do we fix England’s crumbling school estate?

By Tom Lowe2023-07-24T06:00:00

Building has been writing about concerns about the conditions of schools long before the RAAC crisis hit the spotlight. Here we republish a piece we published on the need for refurbishment back in July.

There have been rumblings for some time. In 2018 the roof of a primary school in Kent collapsed. In 2022, a government report admitted there was a “very likely” risk of further collapses in some schools built using lightweight materials. In February this year, seven education unions wrote to the government demanding urgent action, describing the report’s findings as “truly shocking”.

Now a report by the National Audit Office has revealed there are an estimated 700,000 pupils learning in buildings which the Department of Education (DfE) believes require major rebuilding or major refurbishment. An astonishing 38% of England’s 64,000 buildings have now passed their estimated design life, the report found.

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