RAAC Scanning in Shinfield
If a building in Shinfield 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. Shinfield is local to us.
What RAAC scanning in Shinfield tells you
Scanning reads the inside of a panel from its surface. Non-destructive methods distinguish the light, cellular structure of RAAC from dense concrete, and locate the steel reinforcement within a plank: where the bars run, how deep they are, and whether they extend to the bearings. That last point matters more than any other with RAAC, because a plank whose reinforcement stops short of its support is the classic failure case, and no amount of looking from below will show it.
The scan is recorded panel by panel against a location plan, alongside a visual and condition record, so that the results can be assessed rather than just filed.
Scanning led by the national standard
A scan of a RAAC roof in Shinfield 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 Shinfield
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 Shinfield 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 Shinfield
Shinfield is the Shinfield Studios film complex and the University of Reading science park sit within a parish of sustained housing growth. With around 5,400 residents in the Wokingham Borough Council area, it has older village buildings and schools next to a great deal of new construction. 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. Buildings of that period are exactly where RAAC turns up: flat or low-pitched roofs, sometimes floors and walls, in schools, halls, health buildings, sports centres and offices built between the 1950s and the mid 1990s.
RAAC scanning: how to get started in Shinfield
Three pieces of information get a RAAC scanning in Shinfield moving: the age of the building, the type of roof, and any drawings or previous reports you hold. With those we can say whether the building is a realistic RAAC candidate, what the visit would involve, and how long it would take. For estates spread across Shinfield, Reading and Spencers Wood, we plan the visits as one programme so that nothing is missed and nothing is surveyed twice.
Scanning as part of a RAAC survey
Scanning sits at the front of a chain. Scan and survey establish the facts about each panel in Shinfield; the assessment by John Staves (CEng FIStructE, MIoD), a chartered structural engineer and one of the UK's leading specialists in RAAC turns those facts into a decision; and where that decision is to strengthen rather than replace, the CFRP is designed to the scan and survey data, manufactured in the UK, installed with the building in use and monitored afterwards. Together they ensure safe, quality-controlled delivery throughout. Full RAAC surveys in Shinfield include the scan as standard. 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 Shinfield 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
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 Shinfield 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 Shinfield 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 Shinfield
RAAC survey in Shinfield
RAAC survey in Shinfield, Berkshire, by Neil Smuts MCIOB MInstNDT FRCSP, President of the UK Concrete Scanning Standard.
RAAC survey in ShinfieldRAAC assessment in Shinfield
RAAC structural assessment in Shinfield, 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.