United Kingdom

4087 readers

110 users here now

General community for news/discussion in the UK.

Less serious posts should go in [email protected] or [email protected]
More serious politics should go in [email protected].

Try not to spam the same link to multiple feddit.uk communities.
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.

Posts should be related to UK-centric news, and should be either a link to a reputable source, or a text post on this community.

Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.

If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread.

Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.

Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

England’s concrete crisis could extend to hospitals and courts, experts say (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

36 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The one I haven't seen mentioned, but I would expect to be affeceted are universities. Lots of concrete blocks going up in the late 60s

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Parts of Aberdeen uni were/are closed because of the stuff

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Brutalism was also a thing in that period, and that had a lot of externally-visible concrete. But I don't know if that specifically was linked to this particular RAAC stuff.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture

Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era.[1][2][3] Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the bare building materials and structural elements over decorative design.[4][5] The style commonly makes use of exposed, unpainted concrete or brick, angular geometric shapes and a predominantly monochrome colour palette;[6][5] other materials, such as steel, timber, and glass, are also featured.[7]

In the United Kingdom, brutalism was featured in the design of utilitarian, low-cost social housing influenced by socialist principles and soon spread to other regions around the world.[4][5][14] Brutalist designs became most commonly used in the design of institutional buildings, such as universities, libraries, courts, and city halls. The popularity of the movement began to decline in the late 1970s, with some associating the style with urban decay and totalitarianism.[5]

Looking at the one identified school which has had a collapse so far, Singlewell Primary in Kent, it looks like single-story brick buildings to my quick glance. Not Brutalist.

https://www.ablecanopies.co.uk/installations/singlewell-primary-school-second-installation/