Costs of Replacing a RAAC Roof Estimated by BCIS

THE COST of removing a RAAC-affected roof from a 10,000m² 4-storey hospital and replacing it with a new metal roof can be up to £2m.

That’s according to the Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) chief economist David Crosthwaite. He has estimated the costs involved of replacing RAAC roofs and refurbishing the rooms below at a typical hospital.

• Estimated cost of replacing the flat roof (2,500m²) including refurbishment of the rooms on a 10,000m² 4-storey hospital.
• In the range of £1,750,000 – £2,000,000
• £700 – £800 per m²

The roof replacement costings follow news last week that there are 42 hospital sites with confirmed RAAC.

The 42 hospitals where surveys have confirmed RAAC roofs are present are located across all regions of England.

Costs of Replacing a RAAC Roof

Dr David Crosthwaite, BCIS Chief Economist

Dr David Crosthwaite, chief economist at BCIS, said: “It was inevitable that as estate managers undertook reviews of the building stock, more cases of RAAC would be found.

“Looking at the list of affected NHS sites, they range from large hospitals through to small community hospitals, and within those, we don’t know whether we’re looking at small sections of roofs or replacement roofs for entire sites being necessary, so the potential range in costs will vary massively. We know that, for example, at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn, which was already included in the government’s new hospital building programme, the majority of buildings on the site are affected.

“Where remedial work is possible, rather than starting again with a new building, the challenges, and inevitably costs, increase when the setting is more difficult to access, when there’s specialist equipment on site and of course when it’s not as easy to move the occupants out, as it is perhaps to temporarily pause face-to-face education.

“The latest NHS Estate Returns Information Collection (ERIC) data for 2021/2022 estimated that the total cost to eradicate its backlog maintenance was £10.2 billion, an increase of 11% since 2020/2021. The next dataset, due to be published in December, should give us a figure that takes into account what has been discovered in recent months.

“Clearly, ongoing maintenance budgets in the public sector are going to be under pressure for some time, but the whole RAAC situation has proved exactly why investment in ongoing maintenance work – to keep buildings operational and their users safe – is so crucial.”

In July last year, a damning report from the National Audit Office found that the New Hospital Programme to rebuild RAAC affected health sites was altered without reasons being provided by the government. It also said that funding was not in place to deliver the construction or replacement of hospital buildings.

It was followed by a statement in August 2022 by a government minister, Maria Caulfield, confirming there were 34 hospitals with RAAC roofs in danger of collapse.

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