RAAC Scanning in Slough
The most common mistake with RAAC is assuming a panel is ordinary concrete because it looks like it. Scanning removes the guesswork. Structured Carbon scans roofs, floors and walls in Slough to confirm whether a panel is RAAC and to locate its reinforcement, 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. Slough 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 Slough 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
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 Slough 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 Slough
The most common question from schools, academies, NHS estates and councils in Slough 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.
Where RAAC hides in Slough
We know Slough well: it is the Slough Trading Estate, the largest privately owned industrial estate in Europe, plus Elizabeth line stations and a town centre in wholesale redevelopment, with post-war schools, industrial sheds and civic buildings built at pace through the 1950s to 1980s, and around 166,900 residents under Slough Borough Council. Pippins School, a primary school in Slough on the Department for Education published RAAC list, so RAAC is not a theoretical risk here. 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 Slough
The question is not "does Slough have RAAC" but "which of my buildings might". The answer sits in the construction dates. Buildings of the RAAC era in and around Slough, Langley and Cippenham typically include post-war schools, industrial sheds and civic buildings built at pace through the 1950s to 1980s. 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.
What comes next
Scanning sits at the front of a chain. Scan and survey establish the facts about each panel in Slough; 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 Slough 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.
What we bring to Slough
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
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 Slough 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 Slough 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 Slough.
What areas do you cover?
We are based in Finchampstead, Wokingham, so Slough 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.
Also in Slough
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RAAC survey in Slough, Berkshire, by Neil Smuts MCIOB MInstNDT FRCSP, President of the UK Concrete Scanning Standard.
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RAAC structural assessment in Slough, Berkshire, by John Staves CEng FIStructE MIoD, working from Neil Smuts' survey.
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