RAAC Scanning in Arborfield Garrison
If a building in Arborfield Garrison dates from the 1950s to the mid 1990s and has a flat roof, scanning is the fastest way to know whether RAAC is in it. It is non-destructive, it is done with the building in use, and at Structured Carbon it is led by Neil Smuts (MCIOB, MInstNDT, FRCSP), President of the UK Concrete Scanning Standard and a Fellow of the Register of Concrete Scanning Professionals.
- Led by Neil Smuts, President of the UK Concrete Scanning Standard and Fellow of the Register of Concrete Scanning Professionals
- Confirms RAAC and locates its reinforcement without opening up the structure
- Building stays in use; quiet, room-by-room work
- Results feed straight to a chartered RAAC engineer, John Staves CEng FIStructE MIoD
Based in Finchampstead, Wokingham. Arborfield Garrison is local to us.
What RAAC scanning in Arborfield Garrison tells you
Two things cannot be seen from below a ceiling: whether a panel is RAAC at all, and where its reinforcement is. Scanning answers both. It separates RAAC from dense concrete by its internal structure, and it maps the reinforcement in each plank, including whether the bars reach the bearings, which is where RAAC planks are most likely to fail. The results are logged to a location plan for every panel scanned, ready for structural assessment.
Concrete scanning done to a standard
Our scanning is led by Neil Smuts (MCIOB, MInstNDT, FRCSP), President of the UK Concrete Scanning Standard and a Fellow of the Register of Concrete Scanning Professionals. The UK Concrete Scanning Standard is the national standard for concrete scanning, and Neil leads it. That matters because scanning is only as good as the person interpreting it: RAAC, voids, dense concrete and previous repairs can all look alike to an untrained operator. Every scan we carry out in Arborfield Garrison is read by the person who owns the Assess stage of our RAACSafe™ Protocol, and the results go directly to John Staves (CEng FIStructE, MIoD), a chartered structural engineer and one of the UK's leading specialists in RAAC, for assessment.
Is it RAAC or ordinary concrete? Identification in Arborfield Garrison
The most common question from schools, academies, NHS estates and councils in Arborfield Garrison is the simplest one: is this roof RAAC or ordinary concrete? From below they can look identical. Ground penetrating radar and ultrasonic scanning settle it in minutes per panel, because RAAC's light cellular structure and its reinforcement pattern read very differently from dense concrete. The same scan locates the reinforcement and checks whether it reaches the bearings, the single most important fact about a RAAC plank. Scanning is included in our visual survey, from £395, and in every engineering inspection.
RAAC in Arborfield Garrison
We know Arborfield Garrison well: it is the former REME garrison, now the Arborfield Green development of several thousand homes and a new district centre, with retained garrison-era buildings alongside a new secondary school and district centre, and around 4,300 residents under Wokingham Borough Council. Frimley Park Hospital, which serves this part of Berkshire, is a publicly identified RAAC hospital and is being replaced under the New Hospital Programme, which has put RAAC on the agenda for every estates team in the area. Ask the RAAC scanning question of any flat-roofed building here that predates the mid 1990s, because that is where RAAC planks were used.
Where to begin if you manage property in Arborfield Garrison
The question is not "does Arborfield Garrison have RAAC" but "which of my buildings might". The answer sits in the construction dates. Buildings of the RAAC era in and around Arborfield Garrison, Finchampstead and Shinfield typically include retained garrison-era buildings alongside a new secondary school and district centre. Pull the dates for each, note which have flat roofs, and treat every one that fits as unconfirmed until a RAAC scanning says otherwise. We are happy to look at the list with you before anything is booked.
Scan, survey, assess
Two routes are common in Arborfield Garrison. Where nobody knows what the roof is made of, scanning is the first step and usually happens inside a full RAAC survey. Where a visual survey has already said "probably RAAC", scanning is the confirmation, and it often adds the one fact the visual survey could not: whether the reinforcement reaches the bearings. In both cases the results go to John Staves (CEng FIStructE, MIoD), a chartered structural engineer and one of the UK's leading specialists in RAAC, for a RAAC assessment that answers the strengthen-or-replace question. Across the RAAC tenders we cost, a bespoke CFRP scheme engineered for that exact roof frequently comes in at well below 15 per cent of the cost of full replacement. On one tender, a roof costed at around £40 million to replace was priced for strengthening at under £4 million.
What we bring to Arborfield Garrison
We have surveyed thousands of square metres of RAAC, using GSSI Flex NX and GSSI StructureScan Mini ground penetrating radar, Proceq GP8800 and GP8100 radar, the Proceq Pundit PD8050 ultrasonic tomograph, and other electromagnetic and ultrasonic NDT instruments. We can usually be on site in Berkshire within one to two days, evening, weekend and holiday visits are no problem, and the report follows within five working days of the site visit, depending on the size of the survey and the level of detail required. Professional indemnity insurance is held to a maximum of £10 million, with public and employers' liability arranged on a per-site basis.
Two named specialists, one team
Neil Smuts, MCIOB MInstNDT FRCSP
Survey, scanning and monitoring. President, UK Concrete Scanning StandardNeil leads the survey, scanning and monitoring side of every Structured Carbon project. He is President of the UK Concrete Scanning Standard, a member of the Chartered Institute of Building and the Institute of NDT, and a Fellow of the Register of Concrete Scanning Professionals. LinkedIn
John Staves, CEng FIStructE MIoD
Structural assessment and CFRP designJohn is a chartered structural engineer and one of the UK's leading specialists in RAAC. He carries out the structural assessment and designs every strengthening scheme. John received both the Regional and the National Innovation Award at the HSBC Commercial Banking and Federation of Small Businesses Small Business Growth Awards for his work on RAAC repair. LinkedIn
Thank you, we have your enquiry
One of the team will come back to you within one working day. If it is urgent, call +44 118 430 8430.
RAAC scanning FAQs
Is my roof RAAC or ordinary concrete?
From below you usually cannot tell. Scanning can, in minutes per panel: RAAC's light cellular structure and its reinforcement pattern read very differently from dense concrete. If your building in Arborfield Garrison is flat-roofed and dates from the 1950s to the mid 1990s, a scan is the quickest way to know.
What does RAAC scanning cost?
Scanning is included in the visual survey and in every engineering inspection, so it is not priced separately. As a guide, a visual RAAC survey starts from £395. A full engineering inspection of a large or complex building, a hospital for example, is priced per building once we know its size, access and the level of detail required.
Is RAAC scanning destructive?
No. The scan is carried out from the surface of the panel, usually the underside, with no cutting, coring or drilling. The building stays in use.
Can scanning tell RAAC from ordinary concrete?
Yes. RAAC has a light, cellular internal structure that reads very differently from dense reinforced concrete. That difference, plus the reinforcement pattern, is how a scan confirms the material.
Does the scan show where the reinforcement is?
Yes. Locating the reinforcement, including whether it extends to the bearings, is the main reason to scan RAAC. Bearing length is the single most important factor in how a RAAC plank behaves.
Do you scan the whole roof?
We scan every accessible panel that could be RAAC, recorded to a location plan. For a large estate in Arborfield Garrison we agree the scope with you first, but the principle is that unscanned panels are unknown panels.
Who interprets the results?
Neil Smuts (MCIOB, MInstNDT, FRCSP), President of the UK Concrete Scanning Standard and a Fellow of the Register of Concrete Scanning Professionals, leads and reads every scan. The results go to John Staves (CEng FIStructE, MIoD), a chartered structural engineer and one of the UK's leading specialists in RAAC, for structural assessment.
Also in Arborfield Garrison
RAAC survey in Arborfield Garrison
RAAC survey in Arborfield Garrison, Berkshire, by Neil Smuts MCIOB MInstNDT FRCSP, President of the UK Concrete Scanning Standard.
RAAC survey in Arborfield GarrisonRAAC assessment in Arborfield Garrison
RAAC structural assessment in Arborfield Garrison, Berkshire, by John Staves CEng FIStructE MIoD, working from Neil Smuts' survey.
RAAC assessment in Arborfield GarrisonRAAC scanning near Arborfield Garrison
- RAAC scanning Shinfield
- RAAC scanning Wokingham
- RAAC scanning Reading
- RAAC scanning Slough
- RAAC scanning Bracknell
- RAAC scanning Maidenhead
- All Berkshire towns
Related: RAAC strengthening, RAAC remediation in Berkshire, RAAC confirmed buildings register, RAAC in schools.