RAAC Strengthening for Commercial Buildings

For a commercial building, RAAC is not just a structural problem, it is a business and asset problem. Structured Carbon strengthens RAAC in place with bespoke CFRP, so occupiers keep trading, the asset stays lettable and insurable, and you avoid the cost of full replacement.

The RAAC challenge for commercial property

RAAC turns up in the roofs of offices, retail units, warehouses, distribution and industrial buildings from the same era of construction. For owners, landlords and occupiers the issue is rarely only safety. A building with confirmed RAAC and no remediation plan becomes difficult to let, sell, insure or borrow against, and any works that empty it carry lost rent, dilapidations and lease complications on top of the construction bill.

Why commercial owners need an alternative to replacement

Stripping out and replacing a roof means clearing the building, which for a let asset means voids, displaced tenants and a hit to income that often dwarfs the build cost itself. For an owner-occupier it means relocating operations, plant and stock. An approach that restores structural safety while keeping the building in use protects both the asset and the cash flow that depends on it.

How we strengthen RAAC in commercial buildings

We follow our five-stage RAACSafe™ Protocol. Neil Smuts surveys, scans and assesses the RAAC; John Staves designs a bespoke CFRP strengthening scheme to the exact capacity each structure requires; the CFRP is manufactured in the UK to that design and installed in place; and the strengthened structure is monitored. Because nothing is stripped out, the work is phased around occupiers and trading hours.

• Occupiers keep trading, with phased, out-of-hours working to protect operations.
• Asset value protected, with an engineer-certified scheme that removes the RAAC overhang at let, sale or refinancing.
• A fraction of the cost and programme of replacement once voids and lost rent are counted.
• Decades of added safe service life from a permanent, moisture-immune solution.

See the numbers on our case study, where, across the tenders we cost, strengthening tailored to the exact roof comes in well below 15 per cent of replacement cost, and read more about CFRP strengthening and RAAC remediation.

Frequently asked questions

Can RAAC be strengthened with tenants still in occupation?

In most cases, yes. CFRP is applied in place, so work can be phased and programmed around occupiers, keeping units trading and avoiding the void costs and lease problems that come with emptying a building for replacement.

Does strengthening protect the value of the asset?

A building with identified RAAC and no remediation plan is hard to let, sell or insure. A completed, engineer-certified strengthening scheme restores structural safety and removes that overhang, which matters at rent review, sale or refinancing.

Is strengthening cheaper than replacing a commercial roof?

Typically by a wide margin, once lost rent and void costs are counted alongside the build cost. Across the tenders we cost, a bespoke scheme tailored to that exact roof frequently comes in well below 15 per cent of the cost of replacement; on one tender a roof costed at around £40 million to replace was priced for strengthening at under £4 million, with no decant.

Who is responsible for the structural sign-off?

Every scheme is designed and certified by John Staves (CEng FIStructE), a chartered structural engineer and recognised RAAC specialist, working from survey and monitoring led by Neil Smuts, President of the UK Concrete Scanning Standard.