Essex: Chelmsford hospital has roof props installed due to Raac

More than £13m has been allocated to deal with the Raac problem at Building 60

More than 1,000 props are going up at a hospital site where collapse-prone Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (Raac) has been found.

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust has been allocated £13m to replace the roof of the building, at Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, Essex.

No patients are treated in the building, which is used for offices and storage.

A spokesman said remediation work would be completed by 2025.

Raac is a lightweight form of concrete that was used mostly for the construction of roofs from the mid-1950s to the late 1980s.

Reports of the material failing led to an NHS England (NHSE) programme to support trusts to monitor, manage and ultimately remove Raac.

'Essential support services'

According to trust board papers, there are about 1,600 Raac planks in the building's roof.

Surveys show they have not cracked or bent but 1,100 props are being installed as a precautionary measure, alongside support beams.

NHS England (NHSE) has allocated £698m for remediation and safety measures with the intention to eradicate Raac entirely by 2035.

The building, known as Building 60, houses "essential support services" including offices for consultants and medical secretaries, who have already been relocated on the site.

A medical records storage facility and café are also being moved as the phased work continues.

No other buildings on the hospital site or elsewhere at the trust are affected.

Staff have been moved into temporary modular buildings at the Broomfield Hospital site

Jonathan Dunk, chief commercial officer at the trust, said: "We have only one non-clinical building with Raac identified across all of our sites, and it is not used for patient care.

"It is still in partial use on our Broomfield Hospital site. Beams and support props have been installed to ensure complete safety while work is already under way to completely replace the Raac planks. All works are set to be completed by early 2025."