Forres Academy closes in Moray over faulty concrete fears

Forres Academy will be closed on Thursday and Friday this week

A Moray school has been closed to pupils for two days while structural engineers assess a "higher level of risk" from faulty concrete.

Questions have been raised about the safety of a number of school buildings in Scotland found to contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac).

Moray Council said Forres Academy would shut for the rest of the week after experts made the discovery.

Earlier, MSPs were told Raac had been has been found in 14 fire stations.

It has also been discovered at three police stations, including Police Scotland's Fettes building in Edinburgh, and at nine universities.

Motherwell Concert Hall and Theatre also confirmed it would close "with immediate effect" after the material was found in its roof.

• Which schools in Scotland have Raac?

• Nine Scottish universities close buildings over Raac concrete

• What is Raac concrete and why is it a safety risk?

More than 30 schools across Scotland have been found to contain potentially dangerous concrete.

And on Wednesday structural engineers advised the council that the situation at Forres had escalated.

A council statement said: "Due to this new information and in order to take swift action where this is deemed necessary, the school will be closed to pupils on Thursday and Friday to allow time to review our plans working alongside colleagues in the council."

Earlier, Police Scotland's chief financial officer James Gray told a Holyrood committee it was "not economically viable" to carry out the work at Fettes, which was the headquarters of the former Lothian and Borders Police.

Mr Gray told MSPs on the Criminal Justice Committee the substance had also been found in the force's Baluniefield premises in Dundee, with repairs estimated to cost £1.25m, and in a boiler room at a Police Scotland building in Perth.

Ross Haggart, the chief officer of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS), told the committee Raac had been found in 14 stations, with the concrete used "in the construction of our roofs".

He said: "This is a problem we have been aware of since 2019 and while we have got mitigation measures in place, permanent solutions are required because they are key locations for us to operate from across Scotland."

An SFRS submission to the committee did not disclose the stations where Raac has been found, but described them as "key stations within our network".