News reports about the tragic death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak due to black mould in the flat he lived in were heartbreaking to read and will no doubt have sharpened the minds of many people in charge of building estates across the UK and beyond.

For schools, the risk from mould is not something that should keep estate managers and headteachers awake at night - but it is something that needs to be taken seriously.

What’s more, in the current environment where schools will be looking to save money by lowering heating, or not using heating at all on occasion, the risk may be amplified.

Why does mould form?

Mould spores exist in the air everywhere. It’s quite natural and not something you can do anything about. The issue comes when the spores are able to land on cold or damp areas and grow.

Usually, these places, such as around windows where condensation forms, are cleaned regularly so mould cannot grow. However, if it occurs in an area where there is poor ventilation or air flow - such as behind lockers or other furniture - it can grow unchecked.

The other issue is if furniture is kept against an outside wall where the temperature will be naturally lower as, even with the heating on, it can mean there are cold areas where mould can more easily form and that may not be checked as regularly by cleaners.

Why heating matters

What compounds this situation is the air temperature. If the air is warmer more moisture vapour is retained, meaning mould spores are kept in the air. But as temperatures drop, the air cannot maintain as much moisture so it deposits it on any cold surfaces it finds as condensation.

As such, if the heating is on in a room that keeps the air temperature mould is less likely to form.

However, if you are turning the heating off or down to save money - as is quite understandable at present moment - mould can grow more readily.

Schools should therefore be mindful of this trade-off.

The importance of ventilation

The other way to tackle mould, aside from regular cleaning, is with ventilation as this does not allow the spores to settle.

This is good news for schools as classrooms and office spaces are generally larger spaces and, as pupils and staff move regularly between them, it creates air flow that naturally helps tackle the conditions in which mould grows.

However, other locations in schools that are rarely visited - old offices, store cupboards or classrooms that are not in use, perhaps - will not have this benefit.

What’s more, they will probably be unheated, uncleaned and have poor ventilation - all perfect mould-growing conditions.

What are the risks?

The health risks to staff and pupils from mould are dangerous if left unchecked.

Moulds can have multiple health effects, such as respiratory distress, allergy to spores or fungal infection, particularly in susceptible individuals. Some people are sensitive to mould spores, and exposure to these can lead to them suffering symptoms such as stuffy nose, wheezing and red or itchy eyes or skin.

Those who are allergic to moulds or are asthmatic may have more intense reactions, and mould or dampness may even lead to the development of asthma in some individuals. Likewise, people with weak or compromised immune systems, chronic respiratory disease or underlying lung conditions are more likely to get infections from mould.

Meanwhile, as noted, damp conditions and mould can cause damage to items over time. This is most common in rooms that are rarely used and can mean that any items in the rooms are ruined - such as furniture - and the building materials themselves can also require removal.

Although in most cases mould contamination can be removed from hard surfaces by thorough cleaning with commercial products, soap and water, or a weak bleach solution, using adequate PPE including non-porous gloves and protective eyewear, severely contaminated porous or absorbent materials such as ceiling tiles, gyproc plasterboard and carpets may well require disposal.

I’ve visited old mothballed school sites that were being considered to relocate their modular classroom blocks to another school, only to discover this sort of issue that meant they had to be torn down and new temporary modular classrooms procured.

All this underlines why tackling mould and ensuring it does not have the conditions to form are so important.

What can schools do?

As mentioned, regularly cleaning by wiping away any excess moisture is the best course of action - so schools should make sure cleaning is maintained as normal if they can, even in these financially tough times.

If mould is discovered then you can clean it off with an anti-bacterial cleaning product. That should hopefully remove it and then subsequent cleaning will stop it from returning.

However, if it does return rapidly then you need to investigate the cause more thoroughly.

Identify where the moisture is coming from - inside or outside. It could be a leaking roof, or a blocked gutter behind the wall and water is seeping through. Or perhaps there is a cavity wall that has insulation material in it that is holding moisture and making the wall especially cold and damp. Or blocked extraction fans in shower blocks can often be a cause by preventing effective ventilation.   

For schools that want to know more about this issue, there is plenty of guidance available - from quick guides that we at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors have produced to the World Health Organisation’s hefty 248-page guide on the topic, too.

In short, while the risk from mould should not unduly alarm anyone in education, moisture is all around us and can’t be cured, but must be managed with preventative maintenance. In short, as the old adage goes, prevention is better than cure.

Sam Piplica is a senior specialist in Building Standards for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)