The Scottish Government has reached a £10 million funding agreement with Aberdeen City Council to help address the mounting crisis affecting more than 500 homes containing potentially dangerous reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in the city’s Balnagask area.
Housing Secretary Màiri McAllan announced the deal on Thursday, confirming the council has been invited to apply for support through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme after its original £10 million request through the Housing Infrastructure Fund was rejected for not meeting eligibility criteria.
Financial Lifeline for Stalled Demolition Project
The funding arrangement represents a creative solution to unlock resources for what Aberdeen City Council estimates will be a £130 million project spanning up to 15 years. The council faces demolition costs alone of £20-25 million for the affected properties, which include 366 council-owned and 138 privately-owned homes in the Torry area.
“This will create the headroom for the council to meet the cost of remediation from within its own budget, as is the correct approach,” McAllan stated. The Housing Secretary acknowledged the “unique circumstances” surrounding the Aberdeen crisis, noting her recognition of “how worried residents were” and the financial burden facing the local authority.
Aberdeen City Council accounts for the largest concentration of affected properties in Scotland, with 366 social housing units containing RAAC.
Prolonged Uncertainty for Residents
The funding announcement comes after months of uncertainty for Balnagask residents, many of whom have rejected the council’s property purchase offers, arguing valuations are inadequately low. Council tenants have been successfully rehoused, but private homeowners remain in limbo pending voluntary purchase agreements.
Lynn Winstanley, a private homeowner and member of the Torry Community RAAC Campaign, responded cautiously to the funding news: “The way it’s worded makes it look like it will directly help us as homeowners, but we don’t want to get our hopes up, it’s been a long year”. She emphasised hopes that “the money that’s been announced will offer us the correct value for our homes and allow us to move on from this”.
Calls for UK-Wide Response
The Scottish Government continues pressing the UK Government to establish a nationwide RAAC remediation fund, with McAllan reiterating this call in her recent correspondence with the UK Housing Secretary. The Scottish position argues that since many affected properties were sold under Right to Buy legislation predating devolution, and given RAAC’s presence across the UK, only the UK Government possesses sufficient financial flexibility to address the crisis comprehensively.
Implementation Timeline and Next Steps
Aberdeen City Council has welcomed the invitation to bid for additional grant support and confirmed it “looks forward to discussing how they could be used”. Demolition work remains scheduled to proceed in phases, with initial focus on council-owned vacant terraces before addressing mixed-tenure blocks.
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The council approved a four-phase demolition strategy in March 2025, with the entire project timeline extending potentially to 2028, representing one of Scotland’s most significant housing infrastructure challenges in recent years.
Aberdeen City Council had previously unsuccessfully sought access to the region’s unused £20 million Housing Infrastructure Fund, which has remained largely unspent since its 2016 establishment despite multiple applications from north-east councils.
