RAAC Scanning in Ascot
RAAC scanning is how you find out what a roof or floor is made of without cutting into it. From below, RAAC and dense concrete look the same; a scan tells them apart and shows where the reinforcement inside a RAAC plank actually sits. In Ascot and across Berkshire that scanning is carried out 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. Ascot is local to us.
Why scan rather than look
RAAC scanning is non-destructive testing applied to a specific problem: confirming whether a roof, floor or wall panel in Ascot is reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, and if so, where the reinforcement inside it lies. Reinforcement position and bearing length are the two things that decide how a RAAC plank behaves, and both are invisible without scanning. We record them panel by panel with a condition survey, so that the engineer assessing the building works from measurement rather than assumption.
Scanning led by the national standard
A scan of a RAAC roof in Ascot is only useful if two people trust it: the surveyor who reads it and the engineer who acts on it. Ours are Neil Smuts (MCIOB, MInstNDT, FRCSP), President of the UK Concrete Scanning Standard and a Fellow of the Register of Concrete Scanning Professionals, and John Staves (CEng FIStructE, MIoD), a chartered structural engineer and one of the UK's leading specialists in RAAC. Neil leads the national standard for concrete scanning and owns the Assess and Monitor stages of the RAACSafe™ Protocol; John owns Design. The scan is the first piece of evidence in a chain that can run all the way to a strengthened, monitored roof without leaving the partnership.
GPR and ultrasonic RAAC scanning for schools, hospitals and councils in Ascot
We scan with ground penetrating radar (GSSI Flex NX, GSSI StructureScan Mini, Proceq GP8800 and GP8100) and ultrasonic tomography (Proceq Pundit PD8050), read by Neil Smuts (MCIOB, MInstNDT, FRCSP), President of the UK Concrete Scanning Standard and a Fellow of the Register of Concrete Scanning Professionals. For a school or academy in Ascot that means a quiet visit around the timetable; for an NHS estate or council building it means the building stays open. The scan confirms the material, maps the reinforcement and records bearing length for the engineering inspection. Scanning is part of the visual survey, from £395, and of every engineering inspection, which is priced per building.
RAAC in Ascot
We know Ascot well: it is Ascot Racecourse and a stock of very large detached houses where basement and structural refurbishment work is routine, with schools and community buildings of the post-war period among the large houses, and around 24,000 residents under the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. St Francis Catholic Primary School, South Ascot, on the Department for Education published RAAC list and included in the School Rebuilding Programme, so RAAC is not a theoretical risk here. 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.
A practical starting point in Ascot
If you are responsible for buildings in Ascot, start with a list. Which of them have flat or low-pitched roofs, and which were built or extended between the 1950s and the mid 1990s? In the the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead area that will usually take in schools and community buildings of the post-war period among the large houses. Anything on that list that has never had RAAC ruled in or out is a candidate for a RAAC scanning. Send us the list and we will tell you which buildings justify a visit, and which can be cleared from the desk with drawings alone.
What comes next
On its own, a scan tells you what the panel is. Combined with a condition survey and a structural assessment, it tells you what to do. Most clients in Ascot ask for the full RAAC survey, with scanning built in, followed by the assessment by John Staves (CEng FIStructE, MIoD), a chartered structural engineer and one of the UK's leading specialists in RAAC. Where the assessment supports strengthening rather than replacement, the same team designs, manufactures, installs and monitors it. 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.
The practical questions, answered
How soon: we can usually be on site in Berkshire within one to two days. How long: the report follows within five working days of the site visit, depending on the size of the survey and the level of detail required. When: evening, weekend and holiday visits are no problem. With what: 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. How much experience: we have surveyed thousands of square metres of RAAC. Insured: professional indemnity insurance is held to a maximum of £10 million, with public and employers' liability arranged on a per-site basis. Where: Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire are local to us, and we work across the UK, and Ascot is on our doorstep.
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
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.
Can you scan a school in Ascot during term?
Yes. Scanning is quiet, room-by-room work. We plan it around the timetable or use holidays and out-of-hours periods where a school prefers.
Is scanning enough on its own?
It confirms the material and maps the reinforcement. To know what condition the panels are in and what to do, you need the condition survey and a structural assessment as well. We offer all three together as a RAAC survey in Ascot.
What areas do you cover?
We are based in Finchampstead, Wokingham, so Ascot is on our doorstep. Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire are local to us, and we scan RAAC across the UK.
What scanning equipment do you use?
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 have surveyed thousands of square metres of RAAC with them.
How soon can you scan a building in Ascot?
We can usually be on site in Berkshire within one to two days, and evening, weekend and holiday visits are no problem. The report follows within five working days of the site visit, depending on the size of the survey and the level of detail required.
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 Ascot is flat-roofed and dates from the 1950s to the mid 1990s, a scan is the quickest way to know.
Also in Ascot
RAAC survey in Ascot
RAAC survey in Ascot, Berkshire, by Neil Smuts MCIOB MInstNDT FRCSP, President of the UK Concrete Scanning Standard.
RAAC survey in AscotRAAC assessment in Ascot
RAAC structural assessment in Ascot, Berkshire, by John Staves CEng FIStructE MIoD, working from Neil Smuts' survey.
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Related: RAAC strengthening, RAAC remediation in Berkshire, RAAC confirmed buildings register, RAAC in schools.