Life Expectancy of RAAC Building Structures: A Review of Literature

The life of a building often extends well beyond its designed life. However, where the integrity of structural components is questioned, investigations are necessary to assure a safe continued operation. In this study, a comprehensive review of literature is performed to conceptualise the structural integrity of buildings constructed from Reinforced Aerated Autoclaved Concrete (RAAC). In the UK, such a topic has seen immense controversy and concern relating to the use of RAAC in buildings, which is now being considered high risk following the sudden collapse of a school’s concrete roof. Such concerns have driven significant investments and efforts to explore the status of RAAC nationwide, particularly in public buildings, where it was commonly used during the 1970s. The emerging argument claims that all RAAC might have degraded and are having inherent structural limitations. To conceptualise this, a multidisciplinary team undertook a comprehensive review of literature to investigate the academic knowledge base relating to RAAC in existing buildings. The team systematically reviewed hundreds of papers relating to the use of Aerated Autoclaved Concrete in buildings. Subsequently, a carefully developed inclusion and exclusion criteria has been developed to filter extant literature to the most relevant academic contributions. This has led to the inclusion of 92 academic papers. The construction management research community would benefit from this review, which highlights scope for future research, and a research agenda to addressing the key questions that are yet to be answered.