Oxford University college RAAC ‘upheaval’ continues

In September 2023, St Catherine’s College was forced to close key facilities, including its dining hall, library, JCR and some accommodation, due to Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) in six of its buildings.

In plans, the college said it always knew about the RACC, but in 2023, “it was accepted by the college governing body that the risk of plank failure was real, it was unpredictable and should not be ignored”.

Part of the original 1960s St Catherine’s College building, designed by Arne Jacobsen.

This followed a roof collapse at a primary school in Kent in 2018.

Plans added: “The implications of a failure are obviously potentially catastrophic and therefore the issue had to be acknowledged and addressed with the urgent mitigation works and keeping other buildings closed except under specific circumstances.”

In what the college master described as “massive upheaval”, students and staff were forced to study, eat and meet in marquees spread across the college’s gardens.

St Catherine’s has now submitted plans to Oxford City Council to continue to use a “temporary lecture theatre marquee for 12 months”.

St Catherine’s College Marquee (Image: Pendery Architecture & Heritage/ planning portal)

St Catherine’s College Marquee (Image: Pendery Architecture & Heritage/ planning portal)

St Catherine’s College Marquee (Image: Pendery Architecture & Heritage/ planning portal)

This follows October 2024 planning permission to start removing the RAAC from the college’s Grade I listed buildings.

These works are ongoing, but are not yet complete and, according to plans, can only be undertaken “at a certain pace, as some tasks need to be completed before others can commence and each task can only be carried out by a certain number of workers before bottlenecks occur”.

The college said the RAAC replacement project has been “progressing well”, with the administration block, student social areas, the main kitchen and dining hall partially complete and back in use.

The plans state: “At the end of March 2026, all of the Administration Block, the Dining Hall, the Bernard Sunley Building and the Wolfson Library are at different stages of their RAAC roof plank replacement.”

The roof works over the Bernard Sunley building (Image: Pendery Architecture & Heritage/ planning portal)

The roof works over the Bernard Sunley building (Image: Pendery Architecture & Heritage/ planning portal)

A temporary roof over the Wolfson Library has been installed, and the asbestos-containing ceilings have been removed – RAAC planks are set to be removed “soon”.

It added: “However, the overall programme for the RAAC replacement for the other affected buildings is longer than the permissions for the temporary marquees.

“This means that the Bernard Sunley building will not be back in use before the expiry of planning permission and listed building consent for the temporary lecture theatre marquee.”

The Bernard Sunley building is used as a lecture hall and a venue for the Oxford International Song Festival.

It also holds several meeting rooms, and work is set to be completed by the end of October 2026.