RAAC Survey in Binfield
If you manage a school, hall, clinic, leisure centre or office in Binfield with a flat roof built between the 1950s and the mid 1990s, a RAAC survey is how you find out whether reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete is in it and how it is performing. Our surveys are led by Neil Smuts (MCIOB, MInstNDT, FRCSP), President of the UK Concrete Scanning Standard and a Fellow of the Register of Concrete Scanning Professionals, working from Finchampstead on the other side of Wokingham.
- Led by Neil Smuts, MCIOB MInstNDT FRCSP, President of the UK Concrete Scanning Standard
- Findings assessed by John Staves, CEng FIStructE MIoD, a chartered engineer who specialises in RAAC
- School RAAC surveyor and academy RAAC surveyor: most of our work, arranged around the timetable
- Non-destructive: RAAC and its reinforcement confirmed without opening up the roof. Visual surveys from £395
- Usually on site in Berkshire within one to two days; report within five working days of the visit
Based in Finchampstead, Wokingham. Binfield is local to us.
Inside a Structured Carbon RAAC survey
RAAC looks like ordinary concrete from below, which is why buildings in Binfield have gone decades without anyone knowing what was above the ceiling. Our survey confirms it properly: a review of the building's construction history, a panel-by-panel visual inspection of everything accessible, and non-destructive scanning to establish that a panel is RAAC and where its reinforcement lies. Bearing lengths, cracking, deflection, water ingress and previous repairs are all recorded to a location plan.
Every survey is read by John Staves (CEng FIStructE, MIoD), a chartered structural engineer and one of the UK's leading specialists in RAAC, and it is written so that he can assess each panel from it without a second visit.
When a building in Binfield needs a RAAC survey
A RAAC survey is usually prompted by one of four things: guidance from the Department for Education, NHS or a professional body; an insurer, lender or purchaser asking for confirmation; a planned refurbishment or extension; or something visible, such as a sagging ceiling, cracking or water staining, that has made someone nervous. All four are good reasons. For a building of the right age in Binfield, the cost of not knowing is far higher than the cost of the survey.
RAAC surveyor for schools, academies and public buildings in Binfield
School and academy RAAC surveys are most of our work. Headteachers, school business managers and multi-academy trusts in Binfield need a RAAC survey that is quick to arrange, quiet to carry out and written so that the trust, the Department for Education and the insurer can act on it. The same applies to NHS estates, GP surgeries, council property teams, churches and village halls, leisure centres and commercial landlords: anyone with a flat-roofed building of the RAAC era.
Which school RAAC surveyors can also provide a management and remediation strategy following inspection? We can, because the surveyor and the chartered engineer who assesses the findings are one team, and the strengthening that follows is designed by the same engineer. A visual survey starts from £395; a full engineering inspection is priced per building.
The building stock in Binfield
Around 4,900 people live in Binfield, a village on the edge of Bracknell now absorbing the Blue Mountain and Amen Corner developments. It falls under Bracknell Forest Council, and it carries village schools and halls alongside large new housing. 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. If a building in Binfield has a flat roof and dates from the 1950s to the mid 1990s, RAAC should be ruled in or out rather than assumed absent.
RAAC survey: how to get started in Binfield
Three pieces of information get a RAAC survey in Binfield 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 Binfield, Bracknell and Wokingham, we plan the visits as one programme so that nothing is missed and nothing is surveyed twice.
From survey to decision
A survey on its own does not tell you what to do. That is the job of the RAAC assessment, carried out by John Staves (CEng FIStructE, MIoD), a chartered structural engineer and one of the UK's leading specialists in RAAC from our survey findings. The assessment sets out which panels are safe to keep in use, which need propping or monitoring, and whether strengthening in place is a realistic alternative to replacing the roof. 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.
Because survey, assessment, design, manufacture, installation and monitoring all sit inside one partnership, nothing is lost between stages and nobody is selling you a replacement roof you may not need.
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 Binfield, 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 survey FAQs
What 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.
Are you insured?
Professional indemnity insurance is held to a maximum of £10 million, with public and employers' liability arranged on a per-site basis.
Can the building stay open during the survey?
Yes. The survey is quiet, non-destructive work carried out room by room. Schools in Binfield usually ask us to work around the timetable or in holidays; health and office buildings carry on around us. Neil is DBS checked.
What does the report contain?
A panel-by-panel record of what was found: whether the panel is RAAC, its condition, bearing details, cracking, deflection, moisture, previous repairs, all referenced to a location plan with photographs. It is written for a structural engineer to assess from.
Who assesses the findings?
John Staves (CEng FIStructE, MIoD), a chartered structural engineer and one of the UK's leading specialists in RAAC, carries out the structural assessment. The survey is designed around what he needs, which is why the two stages work as one.
Is a RAAC survey the same as a RAAC assessment?
No. The survey establishes what is there and what condition it is in. The assessment is the engineering judgement about what that means and what to do. We offer both, and you can read about RAAC assessment in Binfield separately.
How do I know if my building might have RAAC?
Flat or low-pitched roofs, sometimes floors and walls, in buildings built or extended between the 1950s and the mid 1990s. Schools, hospitals, clinics, halls, leisure centres, courts, offices and industrial units of that period are all candidates. If you are unsure, send us the age and type of the building and we will tell you whether a survey is worth doing.
Also in Binfield
RAAC assessment in Binfield
RAAC structural assessment in Binfield, Berkshire, by John Staves CEng FIStructE MIoD, working from Neil Smuts' survey.
RAAC assessment in BinfieldRAAC scanning in Binfield
RAAC scanning in Binfield, Berkshire: non-destructive identification of RAAC planks and their reinforcement by Neil Smuts, President of the UK Concrete Scanning Standard.
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Related: RAAC strengthening, RAAC remediation in Berkshire, RAAC confirmed buildings register, RAAC in schools.