Unsafe concrete crisis could extend to other public buildings, experts warn
The crisis over unsafe concrete in schools may extend beyond the education sector to other types of public buildings, experts have warned.
They say the scale of the problem with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) is “much bigger than schools” and could include hospitals, police stations, and court buildings.
Even private sector sites such as shopping centres and residential tower blocks could also be impacted, experts say.
Meanwhile, Labour MP Dame Meg Hillier, chairwoman of parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, has warned the issues with RAAC in schools are just the “tip of the iceberg” of maintenance issues for sites across England.
It comes after 104 schools and colleges were told by the Department for Education (DfE) to partially or fully shut buildings just days before the start of the new school year over fears about the safety of facilities built with RAAC.
Labour has called for an “urgent audit” across the public sector estate, while the Liberal Democrats say the public must be given “urgent clarity” over whether hospital wards and buildings could also be forced to close.
Politics latest: More classrooms could shut over collapsing concrete fears
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Concrete crisis explained
RAAC is essentially a lighter-weight form of concrete, used to build roofs, schools, colleges and other buildings from the 1950s until the mid-1990s,
But experts fear that the material has now reached the end of its shelf life and is liable to collapse.
Though not confirmed, it is estimated that around 24 schools in England have been told to close entirely because of the presence of RAAC.
Schools minister Nick Gibb has admitted more could be asked to shut classrooms.
But the problem could be far wider than just schools, experts say, with other buildings at risk of “sudden and catastrophic collapse” if RAAC is not removed.
Chris Goodier, professor of construction engineering and materials at Loughborough University, said the “scale of the problem is much bigger than schools”.
He says it could cover public sectors including health, defence, and justice, as well as some private sector buildings.
NHS providers have already identified 14 hospitals, which were constructed “either wholly or in major part with RAAC”. Seven of these are considered “critical” and not fit for purpose beyond 2030.
Three buildings operated by Police Scotland have also been found to contain RAAC after an investigation of 65 structures.
Matt Byatt, president of the Institution of Structural Engineers, says any high-rise buildings with flat roofs constructed between the late 1960s and early 1990s may also contain RAAC.
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‘New evidence’ to shut unsafe schools
According to Dame Meg, the DfE has been aware of a “significant problem” with RAAC since a roof collapse in 2018.
She warns that this week’s announcement could have a “significant impact” on the department’s wider school maintenance programmes.
Read more:
Disruption at primary school with unsafe concrete to last until 2025
Which other buildings are at risk of concrete collapse?
Ministers urged to publish full list of impacted schools
In an opinion piece in The Times newspaper, she writes: “At our hearing in July it was clear that officials were being thorough with the proportion of school buildings they were working on, including the surveys of 600 schools with RAAC which have led to this week’s decision.
“But this is the tip of the iceberg of a failing school estate in England. Most of the 700,000 pupils currently being educated in substandard buildings are not in RAAC buildings and will now be waiting longer for the improvements they need.”
A taped-off section inside a school affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC)
Damage inside Parks Primary School in Leicester which has been affected with sub standard reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC)
Around 104 schools or “settings” in England found with concrete prone to collapse are set to be closed or disrupted – on top of 52 that have already been affected this year.
The government says the schools needed to close because of safety fears, which have arisen due to concrete failing “with no warning”.
While the DfE has previously focused on remediation, Mr Gibb says the department is now taking the “cautious approach” that all of the concrete should be removed.
Labour is calling on ministers to “come clean” and publish the full list of schools that will be impacted, as they have not yet been publicly named.
It has also accused the government of “neglect and incompetence” over their handling of the issue.
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Politics
‘Will the PM side with parents or tech bros?’: Labour peer demands action on children’s smartphone safety
Sir Keir Starmer needs to choose between parents who want stronger action to tackle harmful content on children’s phones, or the “tech bros” who are resisting changes to their platforms, Baroness Harriet Harman has said.
Speaking to Beth Rigby on Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast, the Labour peer noted that the prime minister met with the creators of hit Netflix drama Adolescence to discuss safety on social media, but she questioned if he is going to take action to “stop the tech companies allowing this sort of stuff” on their platforms where children can access it.
Sir Keir hosted a roundtable on Monday with Adolescence co-writer Jack Thorne and producer Jo Johnson to discuss issues raised in the series, which centres on a 13-year-old boy arrested for the murder of a young girl, and the rise of incel culture.
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The aim was to discuss how to prevent young boys being dragged into a “whirlpool of hatred and misogyny”, and the prime minister said the four-part series raises questions about how to keep young people safe from technology.
Sir Keir has backed calls for the four-part drama to be shown in all schools across the country, but Baroness Harman questioned what is going to be achieved by having young people simply watch the show.
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Sir Keir Starmer held a roundtable with the creators of the Adolescence TV drama.
“Two questions were raised [for me],” she said. ” Firstly – after they’ve watched it, what is going to be the discussion afterwards?
“And secondly, is he going to act to stop the tech companies allowing this sort of stuff to go online into smartphones without protection of children?
“Because if the tech companies wanted to do this, they could actually protect children. They can do everything they want with their tech.”
She acknowledged there are “very big public policy challenges” in this area, but added of the prime minister: “Is he going to side with parents who are terrified and want this content off their children’s phones, or is he going to accept the tech bros’ resistance to having to make changes?”
Baroness Harriet Harman
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Can parliament keep up?
The Labour peer backed the Conservative Party’s call for a ban on smartphones in schools to be mandated from Westminster, saying it would “enable all schools not to have a discussion with their parents or to battle it out, but just to say, this is the ruling” from central government, which Ofsted would then enforce.
“I’m sensitive to the idea that we shouldn’t constantly be telling schools what to do,” she continued. “And they’ve got a lot of common sense and a lot of professional experience, and they should have as much autonomy as possible.
“But perhaps it’s easier for them if it’s done top down.”
Baroness Harman also questioned the speed with which parliament is actually able to legislate to deal with the very rapid development of new technologies, and posits that it could “change its processes to be able to legislate in real time”.
She suggested that a “powerful select committee” of MPs could be established to do that, because “otherwise we talk about it, and then we’re not able to legislate for 10 years – by which time that problem has really set in, and we’ve got a whole load more problems”.
On the podcast, the trio also discussed the 10% tariffs imposed on the UK by Donald Trump and the government’s efforts to strike a trade deal with the US to mitigate the impact of the levy.
The government has refused to rule out scrapping the Digital Services Tax, a 2% levy on tech giants’ revenues in the UK, as part of the negotiations with the Trump administration – a move Baroness Harman said would be “very heartbreaking”.
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A group of investors with cryptocurrency custody and trading firm Bakkt Holdings filed a class-action lawsuit alleging false or misleading statements and a failure to disclose certain information.
Lead plaintiff Guy Serge A. Franklin called for a jury trial as part of a complaint against Bakkt, senior adviser and former CEO Gavin Michael, CEO and president Andrew Main, and interim chief financial officer Karen Alexander, according to an April 2 filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The group of investors allege damages as the result of violations of US securites laws and a lack of transparency surrounding its agreement with clients: Webull and Bank of America (BoA).
April 2 complaint against Bakkt and its executives. Source: PACER
The loss of Bank of America and Webull will result “in a 73% loss in top line revenue” due to the two firms making up a significant percentage of its services revenue, the investor group alleges in the lawsuit. The filing stated Webull made up 74% of Bakkt’s crypto services revenue through most of 2023 and 2024, and Bank of America made up 17% of its loyalty services revenue from January to September 2024.
Related: Bakkt names new co-CEO amid re-focus on crypto offerings
Bakkt disclosed on March 17 that Bank of America and Webull did not intend to renew their agreements with the firm ending in 2025. The announcement likely contributed to the company’s share price falling more than 27% in the following 24 hours. The investors allege Bakkt “misrepresented the stability and/or diversity of its crypto services revenue” and failed to disclose that this revenue was “substantially dependent” on Webull’s contract.
“As a result of Defendants’ wrongful acts and omissions, and the precipitous decline in the market value of the Company’s securities, Plaintiff and other Class members have suffered significant losses and damages,” said the suit.
Other law offices said they were investigating Bakkt for securities law violations, suggesting additional class-action lawsuits may be in the works. Cointelegraph contacted Bakkt for a comment on the lawsuit but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
Prices affected by Trump Media reports
Bakkt’s share price surged roughly 162% in November 2024 after reports suggested that then-US President-elect Donald Trump’s media company was considering acquiring the firm. As of April 2025, neither company has officially announced a deal.
Shares in Bakkt (BKKT) were $8.15 at the time of publication, having fallen more than 36% in the previous 30 days.
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The new trade tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump may place added pressure on the Bitcoin mining ecosystem both domestically and globally, according to one industry executive.
While the US is home to Bitcoin (BTC) mining manufacturing firms such as Auradine, it’s still “not possible to make the whole supply chain, including materials, US-based,” Kristian Csepcsar, chief marketing officer at BTC mining tech provider Braiins, told Cointelegraph.
On April 2, Trump announced sweeping tariffs, imposing a 10% tariff on all countries that export to the US and introducing “reciprocal” levies targeting America’s key trading partners.
Community members have debated the potential effects of the tariffs on Bitcoin, with some saying their impact has been overstated, while others see them as a significant threat.
Tariffs compound existing mining challenges
Csepcsar said the mining industry is already experiencing tough times, pointing to key indicators like the BTC hashprice.
Hashprice — a measure of a miner’s daily revenue per unit of hash power spent to mine BTC blocks — has been on the decline since 2022 and dropped to all-time lows of $50 for the first time in 2024.
According to data from Bitbo, the BTC hashprice was still hovering around all-time low levels of $53 on March 30.
Bitcoin hashprice since late 2013. Source: Bitbo
“Hashprice is the key metric miners follow to understand their bottom line. It is how many dollars one terahash makes a day. A key profitability metric, and it is at all-time lows, ever,” Csepcsar said.
He added that mining equipment tariffs were already increasing under the Biden administration in 2024, and cited comments from Summer Meng, general manager at Chinese crypto mining supplier Bitmars.
Source: Summer Meng
“But they keep getting stricter under Trump,” Csepcsar added, referring to companies such as the China-based Bitmain — the world’s largest ASIC manufacturer — which is subject to the new tariffs.
Trump’s latest measures include a 34% additional tariff on top of an existing 20% levy for Chinese mining imports. In response, China reportedly imposed its own retaliatory tariffs on April 4.
BTC mining firms to “lose in the short term”
Csepcsar also noted that cutting-edge chips for crypto mining are currently massively produced in countries like Taiwan and South Korea, which were hit by new 32% and 25% tariffs, respectively.
“It will take a decade for the US to catch up with cutting-edge chip manufacturing. So again, companies, including American ones, lose in the short term,” he said.
Source: jmhorp
Csepcsar also observed that some countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States region, including Russia and Kazakhstan, have been beefing up mining efforts and could potentially overtake the US in hashrate dominance.
Related: Bitcoin mining using coal energy down 43% since 2011 — Report
“If we continue to see trade war, these regions with low tariffs and more favorable mining conditions can see a major boom,” Csepcsar warned.
As the newly announced tariffs potentially hurt Bitcoin mining both globally and in the US, it may become more difficult for Trump to keep his promise of making the US the global mining leader.
Trump’s stance on crypto has shifted multiple times over the years. As his administration embraces a more pro-crypto agenda, it remains to be seen how the latest economic policies will impact his long-term strategy for digital assets.
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