RAAC Scanning in Hungerford
Structured Carbon provides non-destructive RAAC scanning in Hungerford 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. Hungerford is local to us.
How scanning identifies RAAC
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.
Scanning led by the national standard
Concrete scanning has a standard in the UK, and the man who leads it leads our scanning. Neil Smuts (MCIOB, MInstNDT, FRCSP), President of the UK Concrete Scanning Standard and a Fellow of the Register of Concrete Scanning Professionals, reads every scan we carry out in Hungerford. That is the difference between a printout and an answer: knowing what RAAC looks like on a scan, what a short bearing looks like, and what a previous repair or a void looks like when it is pretending to be one of them. The answer then goes to John Staves (CEng FIStructE, MIoD), a chartered structural engineer and one of the UK's leading specialists in RAAC, whose assessment and, if needed, strengthening design are built on it.
RAAC testing without opening up: what scanning replaces in Hungerford
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 Hungerford 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.
Where RAAC hides in Hungerford
Hungerford sits in the West Berkshire Council area, close to Kintbury, Lambourn and Newbury. It is a Kennet and Avon canal market town on the A4 with a listed high street, and it holds a listed high street with post-war school and community buildings behind it. 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 Hungerford
If you are responsible for buildings in Hungerford, 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 West Berkshire Council area that will usually take in a listed high street with post-war school and community buildings behind it. 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
Two routes are common in Hungerford. 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.
Equipment, experience and insurance
Scanning is only as good as the instruments and the person reading them. We 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. Professional indemnity insurance is held to a maximum of £10 million, with public and employers' liability arranged on a per-site basis.
For Hungerford, we can usually be on site in Berkshire within one to two days, 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. Evening, weekend and holiday visits are no problem.
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
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 Hungerford?
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 Hungerford 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.
Also in Hungerford
RAAC survey in Hungerford
RAAC survey in Hungerford, Berkshire, by Neil Smuts MCIOB MInstNDT FRCSP, President of the UK Concrete Scanning Standard.
RAAC survey in HungerfordRAAC assessment in Hungerford
RAAC structural assessment in Hungerford, 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.