News about Malcolm Arnold

Since bosses discovered the presence of reinforced autoclaved concrete (RAAC), a budget building material that is prone to failure, St Andrew's Junior School in Hatfield Peverel, Essex (left) was supposed to be closed until mid-September. Administrators hoped to have temporary classrooms up by now, but the facilities' arrival was postponed, so they've had to seek out alternative locations from which to run the foundation school, as well as a luxury wedding venue. Alison and Ian Twinley, the operator of Hatfield Place (inset), claim to save the Georgian manor's converted stable block for lower school students, while upper school students have been given rooms in the formal house for learning. Photographed: Marie, seven, and George, nine years old, are the nine other members of the stable block.

Bosses at Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, were discovered in May that the site was brimmled with reinforced autoclaved concrete (RAAC). Since more than a hundred schools were advised to shut down due to safety concerns, the lightweight material, which is susceptible to failure, has been refocussed in recent weeks. Now, a shocking video shows how more than 150 steel and timber props were erected at the Welsh hospital to hold up wards that had been surveyed with RAAC panels. The roof support needed in one ward that normally holds six beds is so high that it's difficult to reopen, but 40 props have been constructed to hold the ceiling in one hallway alone, making it impossible to open. Hospital administrators compared keeping the site open to 'trying to restore an aeroplane when it's in the air.' Staff said it has been'scary' working under cracked ceilings and warned that the outbreak has piled pressure on already stuffed waiting lists, with appointments cancelled after certain areas of the hospital had to be shut down.