RAAC Survey in Maidenhead
If you manage a school, hall, clinic, leisure centre or office in Maidenhead 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. Maidenhead is local to us.
How we survey RAAC in Maidenhead
We start with the building's history: when it was built, when it was extended, and any drawings or previous reports you hold. On site we inspect every accessible roof, floor and wall panel that could be RAAC, record its condition, and use non-destructive scanning to confirm whether a panel is RAAC and where its reinforcement sits. Bearings are checked, because RAAC planks fail at the ends before they fail in the middle. We record cracking, deflection, water staining and any evidence of previous repair, panel by panel, with a location plan so nothing is lost between survey and assessment.
What you get back is a report written for a structural engineer to act on, not a photo album. Because that engineer is John Staves (CEng FIStructE, MIoD), a chartered structural engineer and one of the UK's leading specialists in RAAC, the survey is designed around what he needs to classify each panel and decide what should happen next.
Who asks us for RAAC surveys in Maidenhead
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 Maidenhead 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.
A RAAC surveyor in Maidenhead who can also tell you what to do next
A RAAC survey answers "is it there and what state is it in". The question that follows, from every school, academy trust, hospital estate and council in Maidenhead, is "so what do we do". Because our surveyor and our chartered structural engineer work as one team, the survey feeds an inspection and assessment that ends in a management and remediation strategy, not a list of findings. A visual survey starts from £395; an engineering inspection of a large or complex building is priced per building.
We survey schools and academies, NHS and GP premises, council and civic buildings, churches and village halls, leisure centres, offices and industrial units, anything with a flat roof of the RAAC era.
The building stock in Maidenhead
Maidenhead is an Elizabeth line terminus with a town centre regeneration programme replacing 1960s and 1970s office and car park structures. With around 67,400 residents in the the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead area, it has a run of 1960s and 1970s office, car park, school and leisure buildings, many now being refurbished or replaced. 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.
Prioritising buildings in Maidenhead
Not every building in Maidenhead needs a RAAC survey, and we would rather tell you that than sell you one. The ones that do are flat-roofed, date from the 1950s to the mid 1990s, and have never had RAAC confirmed or excluded by scanning. Under the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead that generally means a run of 1960s and 1970s office, car park, school and leisure buildings, many now being refurbished or replaced. Ranked by occupancy and by the consequence of a failure, that list usually puts schools, health buildings and places of assembly first, then offices and industrial units.
After the RAAC survey: assessment, then a plan
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 Maidenhead, 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
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 Maidenhead 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.
Where do you cover?
We are based in Finchampstead, Wokingham, so Maidenhead is on our doorstep. Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire are local to us, and we work across the UK.
How much does a RAAC survey cost?
There is no blanket price, because buildings differ. 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. Tell us the building and we will give you a figure for it.
Do you survey schools and academies in Maidenhead?
Yes, and that is most of our work. School and academy RAAC surveys in Maidenhead are arranged around the timetable or in holidays, written so the trust, the Department for Education and the insurer can act on them, and followed, where you want it, by an engineering inspection and a management and remediation strategy from the same team. Neil is DBS checked.
How long does a RAAC survey take?
It depends on the size of the building and how much of the roof is accessible. A single-storey school or hall in Maidenhead is typically a day on site; larger or multi-building estates take longer. The report follows within five working days of the site visit, depending on the size of the survey and the level of detail required.
How quickly can you get to Maidenhead?
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.
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RAAC structural assessment in Maidenhead, Berkshire, by John Staves CEng FIStructE MIoD, working from Neil Smuts' survey.
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RAAC scanning in Maidenhead, Berkshire: non-destructive identification of RAAC planks and their reinforcement by Neil Smuts, President of the UK Concrete Scanning Standard.
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