RAAC Scanning in Charvil
Structured Carbon provides non-destructive RAAC scanning in Charvil and throughout Berkshire. The work 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 person who leads the national standard for concrete scanning. The scan confirms RAAC, maps the reinforcement, and gives John Staves (CEng FIStructE, MIoD), a chartered structural engineer and one of the UK's leading specialists in RAAC, the evidence his assessment needs.
- 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. Charvil is local to us.
What RAAC scanning in Charvil tells you
RAAC scanning is non-destructive testing applied to a specific problem: confirming whether a roof, floor or wall panel in Charvil 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.
Who scans your building
A scan of a RAAC roof in Charvil 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.
RAAC testing without opening up: what scanning replaces in Charvil
Before scanning, confirming RAAC meant cutting an opening or taking a core. Neither is needed now. Non-destructive scanning identifies the material, locates the reinforcement and checks bearings from the surface, so a school, clinic, hall or office in Charvil is surveyed with nothing removed and nobody moved out. Where an engineer later needs load or deflection data, that is added as part of the engineering inspection rather than by damaging the roof. Scanning comes with the visual survey, from £395, and with every engineering inspection.
RAAC in Charvil
Charvil sits in the Wokingham Borough Council area, close to Twyford, Woodley and Sonning. It is a village between Twyford and Woodley on the A4, largely built in the post-war decades, and it holds a village built mainly after the war, with a school and hall of that period. That is the building stock the RAAC scanning question applies to: anything with a flat or shallow roof from the 1950s to the mid 1990s, whether school, clinic, hall, leisure centre or office.
A practical starting point in Charvil
If you are responsible for buildings in Charvil, 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 Wokingham Borough Council area that will usually take in a village built mainly after the war, with a school and hall of that period. 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.
Scan, survey, assess
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 Charvil 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 Charvil 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
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 Charvil 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.
Can you scan a school in Charvil 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 Charvil.
What areas do you cover?
We are based in Finchampstead, Wokingham, so Charvil is on our doorstep. Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire are local to us, and we scan RAAC across the UK.
Also in Charvil
RAAC survey in Charvil
RAAC survey in Charvil, Berkshire, by Neil Smuts MCIOB MInstNDT FRCSP, President of the UK Concrete Scanning Standard.
RAAC survey in CharvilRAAC assessment in Charvil
RAAC structural assessment in Charvil, Berkshire, by John Staves CEng FIStructE MIoD, working from Neil Smuts' survey.
RAAC assessment in CharvilRAAC scanning near Charvil
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Related: RAAC strengthening, RAAC remediation in Berkshire, RAAC confirmed buildings register, RAAC in schools.