RAAC Survey in Cookham
If you manage a school, hall, clinic, leisure centre or office in Cookham 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. Cookham is local to us.
Inside a Structured Carbon RAAC survey
A RAAC survey has three jobs: confirm whether RAAC is present, record the condition of every panel, and gather the measurements an engineer needs to assess it. We do all three in one visit where access allows. Non-destructive scanning identifies RAAC and the position of its reinforcement without cutting into the roof, and a panel-by-panel inspection records bearings, cracking, deflection, moisture and past repairs against a location plan.
The report goes straight to John Staves (CEng FIStructE, MIoD), a chartered structural engineer and one of the UK's leading specialists in RAAC, so the survey is planned around the questions his assessment has to answer rather than around a generic checklist.
Who asks us for RAAC surveys in Cookham
Any building with a flat or low-pitched roof built or extended between the 1950s and the mid 1990s should have RAAC ruled in or out. In practice the requests we get from Cookham and the rest of Berkshire come from school business managers and academy trusts working through Department for Education guidance, NHS and primary care estates teams, council property teams, leisure operators, churches and charities with halls, and commercial landlords whose insurers or buyers have asked the question.
The other common trigger is a sale, a lease renewal or a refurbishment where the design team needs to know what the roof is made of before they touch it.
School, academy, NHS and council RAAC surveys in Cookham
Most RAAC surveys we are asked for in Cookham come from four places: schools and academy trusts working to Department for Education guidance, NHS and primary care estates teams, council property departments, and the owners of halls, churches, sports centres and offices with flat roofs from the 1950s to the mid 1990s. Each gets the same two-part offer. A visual survey, from £395, identifies and records the RAAC. An engineering inspection and structural assessment, priced per building, classifies every panel and tells you what to do, signed by a Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers.
For a school or academy trust that needs a RAAC surveyor who can also provide a management and remediation strategy after the inspection, that is what the two-part offer is for.
RAAC in Cookham
Cookham sits in the the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead area, close to Maidenhead, Bourne End and Taplow. It is a Thames village known for Stanley Spencer, with Cookham Rise around the Marlow branch station, and it holds village schools and halls, some extended in the post-war decades. That is the building stock the RAAC survey 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.
Where to begin if you manage property in Cookham
The question is not "does Cookham have RAAC" but "which of my buildings might". The answer sits in the construction dates. Buildings of the RAAC era in and around Cookham, Maidenhead and Bourne End typically include village schools and halls, some extended in the post-war decades. Pull the dates for each, note which have flat roofs, and treat every one that fits as unconfirmed until a RAAC survey says otherwise. We are happy to look at the list with you before anything is booked.
What happens after the survey
Three outcomes are possible once the survey is assessed. The panels are sound and can be managed and monitored. Some panels need propping or restricted use while a decision is made. Or the roof needs intervention, and the choice is between strengthening it in place and replacing it. The RAAC assessment by John Staves (CEng FIStructE, MIoD), a chartered structural engineer and one of the UK's leading specialists in RAAC tells you which applies to your building in Cookham, and why. 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.
If strengthening is the answer, the design, manufacture, installation and monitoring are carried out by the same partnership that surveyed the roof.
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 Cookham 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 survey FAQs
How quickly can you get to Cookham?
We are based in Finchampstead, Wokingham, so we can usually be on site in Berkshire within one to two days. Evening, weekend and holiday visits are no problem.
Do you need to open up the roof?
No. We confirm RAAC and locate its reinforcement using non-destructive scanning from the underside or the roof surface. Where a small opening is already present we will use it, but the survey does not depend on cutting into the building.
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 Cookham 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.
Also in Cookham
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RAAC structural assessment in Cookham, Berkshire, by John Staves CEng FIStructE MIoD, working from Neil Smuts' survey.
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RAAC scanning in Cookham, 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.