In the Herald today:
This would be embarrassing for some of us. Trying to show off with a clever reference based on an architectural movement when you clearly know nothing or perhaps care nothing for accuracy.
See that ‘exposed, unpainted concrete’ bit?
By definition RAAC has to be covered to stop water/frost penetration softening and cracking it and allowing corrosion of the reinforcing metal bars. ‘Brutal’ concrete had to be the very best, the hardest, the toughest.
There are some schools in the Brutalist style but they seem to be all in Japan and, notably, have not crumbled: https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/collections/brutalist-classroom-9-schools-that-embrace-concrete/
The RAAC schools in the UK are just modern system builds (no style) designed to control costs. The RAAC usage reflects best the cheap, privatising tendencies in the Conservative and New Labour parties in the second half of the 20th Century.
The one roof to come down in England is almost certainly due to a maintenance failure to keep water out and a monitoring failure due to the reduction in inspections under the Cons. I looked at this in January 2023: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2023/01/29/the-ties-that-do-not-bind-uk-and-scottish-labour-diverge-on-importance-of-collapsing-schools/
That no Scottish school with RAAC is to be closed means that they have all been maintained and regularly inspected and are safe.
This reflects the overall superiority of building control in Scotland. See https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2022/09/20/brian-wilsons-shiny-neck/
Update: The Guardian has it brutally accurate.
Collapsing schools are the latest sign of a crumbling country – and a lesson in Tory cost-cutting
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/05/collapsing-schools-crumbling-tory-quick-fixes
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
It is of note that when Scottish schools returned after the summer holiday, there were no alarmist headlines about ‘crumbling buildings’. Then, three weeks later, following a roof collapse in one school in England, and reports of a number of schools across England which were deemed in danger of collapse, it became an ‘issue’ for the Scottish media. They demanded to know how many were potentially collapsing in Scotland? And we were told that Councils had reported that 35 required some kind of attention. There are of the order of 2000 school buildings in Scotland and 1.75% or thereabouts required some attention. Indeed, some had already had remedial work and were operating normally. However, this was not good enough for BBC Scotland who found a mother whose child, by her own admission was happily back at school, who had been unaware that the school had been maintained to a safe standard during the holiday, now stated that it was a ‘nightmare’. And, right on cue , we had CauldHam blaming and demanding action.
Despite cuts to public expenditure local authority buildings are regularly monitored and repairs carried out routinely. Of course, public expenditure cuts can mean that repairs might be deferred, because they are not an imminent problem. But, eventually such things have to be dealt with and are likely to have deteriorated further in the interim.
The real culprit is the Treasury over many decades, not investing properly in public infrastructure and being ‘friendly’ to contractors who are primarily interested in profit.
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It is of note that when Scottish schools returned after the summer holiday, there were no alarmist headlines about ‘crumbling buildings’. Then, three weeks later, following a roof collapse in one school in England, and reports of a number of schools across England which were deemed in danger of collapse, it became an ‘issue’ for the Scottish media.
Just so.
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Grenfell was a result of cost cutting and negligence , schools collapsing in England is the same cost cutting and negligence , Scottish buildings control is superior but it does cost money , the Conservative Party and now the Labour Party across the U.K. both have a policy of cost cutting their aim is for minimal government spending , they want to privatise everything , the NHS , Education including nurseries , schools, colleges and universities , roads , railways ,police housebuilding and everything that councils , local authorities do including bin collection , road repairs , street lights , registration of marriages and births , grass cutting and maintenance of green spaces , parking etc etc the list covers everything apart from the judiciary which they will keep control of so they can enforce and abandon laws as they wish.
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The ‘concrete crumble’ story is a MacGuffin for the upcoming by-elections.
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RAAC is more an issue of being regularly monitored for any signs of distress, long before the structure actually fails. That’s why so many were painted when the balloon went up in the 1990s, the paint will flake from the surface as a clear tell-tale long before failure.
There is however a connection between Grenfell and RAAC monitoring, the Tory obsession over cutting “unnecessary red tape”, something the Scots have mercifully been spared.
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Labour’s hopes crumbling?
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Really, really gutted!
https://www.southlanarkshireview.scot/news/article/1739/primary_school_improvements_are_agreed
“The works will ensure pupils and staff at Our Lady of Lourdes enjoy the same high building specifications and standards that have become the norm at all our schools thanks to our far-sighted modernisation programme.”
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