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NEWS STUDENT ACCOMMODATION
Maccreanor Lavington wins approval for Elephant & Castle student accommodation
Maccreanor Lavington’s design for a student accommodation building in Elephant & Castle has been awarded planning permission. The proposed block – for the student housing company Alumno Group – will provide up to 244 student bedrooms over 24 storeys with two staircases and 67 m2 of commercial spaces at ground fl oor level. The scheme sits on a “challenging” vacant triangle of land at the junction of Rockingham and Tiverton Street and includes three of the adjacent railway viaduct arches in the London Borough of Southwark – a key component of the design.
The single tower has a slim profi le, incorporating high quality materials and low-level green walling, which would have a positive effect on the surrounding properties’ outlook. The fi rst, second and third fl oor levels are a larger footprint than the ground and mezzanine levels, cantilevering beyond the
RAAC CONCRETE
Report fi nds RAAC roofs liable to collapse in UK schools
A report released by ITV News in March concluded that reinforced roofs made from lightweight Reinforced Autoclaved Aereated Concrete installed in schools between the 1960s and 1980s are now in danger of collapsing.
The report covered 68 schools, and was the result of a freedom of information request to 5,882 English schools, which also revealed that 1,466 schools did not know if they had RAAC or not. The roofi ng industry issued a national warning after an RAAC roof collapsed
at a primary school in Kent in 2018, and the Department for Education published a document in December 2022 that stated RAAC panels “increase the risk of structural failure, which can be gradual or sudden with no warning.”
Dampness increase the risk of collapse due to corroding the steel reinforcement, and poor quality control of construction using RAAC in the 1960s and 1980s has made the possibility of leaks more likely. This form of precast concrete was frequently used in public sector buildings
two base storeys on the southwest and northwest frontages.
The 19 uppermost storeys are larger
still, cantilevering beyond the base fi ve storeys on the southern corner and along the east (Low Line) frontage. Glazed brick frontages are provided at ground and mezzanine levels. The upper
22 storeys are clad predominantly in vertically bonded red brickwork, complemented by white brickwork. Windows and doors are framed in bronze-effect metal.
It is hoped that the brownfi eld
constrained site will help optimise the wider housing delivery targets in the borough.
in the UK from the mid-1950s to the mid- 1990s, but is less durable than traditional concrete and has a shelf-life estimated to be around 30 years, according to the Standing Committee on Structural Safety. The Department for Education published guidance for schools’ estates departments in December 2022 for identifying RAAC in their buildings, and how to seek specialist advice to assess it, as well as how to develop management plans to address the problem. The DfE emailed school heads in February regarding surveying their schools, and the National Association of Head Teachers is urging the Department to take “urgent action to ensure that checks are carried out in every single school where the use of RAAC is identifi ed.”
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK
ADF MAY 2023
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