Gatehouse dad offers to hire engineer to inspect school's suspect concrete panels

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A Gatehouse dad pledged to hire an engineer at his own cost to inspect suspect concrete panels at Gatehouse Primary School.

Kris Dickie made the surprise offer at a fiery public meeting in the town’s Bank of Fleet Hotel on Wednesday. The self-employed builder spoke out after council officials sought to assure parents present that appropriate checks had been carried out, remedial work was ongoing and that the school was safe for pupils and staff.

Gatehouse is one of four schools in the region found to have sections of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC). The material has been implicated in the collapse of a school roof in Kent which sparked building inspections across the UK.

Mr Dickie told the officials: “The RAAC panels have been in for 60 years and they have a life span of 30. “There are still areas that have not been looked at and it’s not enough. “They are at the end of their life. “There are too many grey areas and a visual inspection is not sufficient. “You can’t sit here hand on heart and say the school is 100 per cent safe.” Mr Dickie then offered to fund a detailed inspection of the RAAC panels himself to provide what he claimed would be a comprehensive picture of the building’s structural integrity.