Post Office Ltd Estate – Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC):
Further to LTB305/23, in relation to RAAC in the Royal Mail Group estate, this subject matter was also raised with Post Office Ltd (POL) initially in November 2023 and this is an update on subsequent discussions and report back to the Union from the business. The most recent meeting which discussed the matter took place on 10 and 11 January with Martin Hopcroft Post Office Limited (POL) Director of Health, Safety, Environment & Business Continuity and Kate Giles (POL) Property Compliance, Operations and Contracts Manager.
An urgent and clear response was requested from POL as to what it intends to do to with regard to professionally competent commissioned surveys of the POL building estate to check for RAAC (Reinforced, Autoclaved, Aerated Concrete) and HAC (High Aluminium Concrete) which is a similar building fabric and from that details of any required remedial action plan as necessary.
We have stressed that this matter is now urgent and we need from POL their business’s policy and plan of approach to confirm the POL wide estate assessments and reports on any buildings containing RAAC or HAC, the condition of it and a plan of urgent remedial action to deal with it in order to avert any collapses and dangers from water damage and mould etc., or co-located asbestos with RAAC. A similar building fabric ‘High Aluminium Concrete’ (HAC) may also exist in some buildings and this needs condition checking also.
One of the important points made by CWU, although media reports have been centring on schools and hospitals, is that these materials, (RAAC and HAC) were subject to widespread use in ‘public buildings’ and at the time the building estates in Royal Mail Group and POL were public buildings and therefore many of those buildings may contain either of the building materials RAAC and HAC.
A national programme of structural engineering surveys by specialist engineers is underway in order to determine the presence or otherwise of these materials, the condition of them and any required remedial action plan.
We have received the following update from POL regarding a RAAC inspection programme which has been initiated with urgency. A further update is awaited from ‘Atalian Servest’ POL’s Facilities Management (FM) company with confirmation of dates for a number of more building inspections during January and a further update from BNP Estates following the issue of a second letter to landlords.
A profiling of how many Directly Managed Post Office Branches and CVIT Supply Chain sites have been identified as higher risk and surveys have been completed or are scheduled, and an update and confirmation for those where POL is a tenant, including plans are to be checked over the coming weeks.
Overall POL reports that the risk remains low due to POL’s maintenance programme and there is no known or found degradation so far but POL will continue to monitor it closely. POL is also receiving updates from Royal Mail Group (RMG/RMP&FS) who are undertaking their own RAAC inspection programme on sites occupied by POL where RMG have responsibility.
POL aims to answer 4 questions:
- Does the property have RAAC?
- Is POL responsible?
- If POL is responsible, is it safe?
- If the landlord is responsible, has POL received assurance that the property is safe?
POL has 220 properties in their Estate.
Following a desktop survey 139 were identified as falling into the risk category for RAAC and of these:
- 13 freeholds – 12 have had visual inspections and 5 have been identified as needing further investigation by way of an intrusive survey which will be completed in January. One is scheduled in for the visual inspection this month.
- 17 fully repairing and insuring leases – 9 have had visual inspections and 3 have been identified as needing further investigation by way of an intrusive survey which will be completed in January. 8 are scheduled in for the visual inspection this month.
- 107 are landlord responsibility. All landlords were written to despite who’s responsibility it is. Where the landlord is responsible, POL has had 92 responses. 2 sites have been identified as having RAAC and the landlords are dealing with it (Grangemouth and Queensway). 28 landlords have confirmed there is no RAAC present. The remaining responses are a mix of answers including push backs on to POL, which POL are challenging.
- 2 licenses – both landlords have responded and confirmed no RAAC is present.
- POL has had some responses back from a legal letter sent to landlords in December. The responses are being collated and an update report produced for the POL Property Compliance, Operations and Contracts Manager for further consideration which will change the above numbers. Once the updates have been received next steps will be decided in cases where no response has been received or further information is required.
- POL conclude that the general situation is a low risk where further investigation is required in properties and where there is no degradation.
- There are a number of sites where Royal Mail Group and POL operations are co-located and joint discussions have been initiated in respect of any at-risk sites.
Below is a summary of numbers of POL Properties, broken down by site type, falling in risk period:Car Park (Garage)CTOCVITDMBTemp franchiseVacantSublettingNetworkAdmin OfficeVacant unit next to let unitVacant unit next to let Network branchGrand Total16127563328311139
Of which breakdown of site type in risk period where RMG is the Landlord:CVITDMBTemp franchiseVacantNetworkGrand Total221111944
POL will keep the CWU Health, Safety & Environment Department updated as the project progresses.
Attachments:
- RAAC Information Factsheet
- Statute of Structural Engineers – Reinforced Aerated Autoclaved Concrete (RAAC) – Investigation & Assessment Guidance.
- LTB 305/23 – RMG Estate – RAAC
Yours sincerely
Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer
24LTB020 Post Office Ltd Estate – Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC)
Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) Information Fact Sheet
23LTB305 Royal Mail Group Estate – Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concret…
CWU Eastern No5 Branch 
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