RAAC Survey in Reading
RAAC surveys in Reading are carried out by Structured Carbon from our Finchampstead base, one of the few places in the country where the surveyor and the structural engineer who will assess the findings work as a single team. The survey side 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.
- 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. Reading is local to us.
How we survey RAAC in Reading
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.
When a building in Reading needs a RAAC survey
The buildings most likely to contain RAAC are the ones Reading has plenty of: post-war schools and colleges, health centres and clinics, sports halls and swimming pools, community centres, libraries, courts, offices and light industrial units, all built between the 1950s and the mid 1990s with flat or shallow roofs. If a building like that has never been surveyed for RAAC, it should be. If it was surveyed on a visual basis only, the findings are worth confirming with scanning, because RAAC and dense concrete are hard to tell apart from below.
A RAAC surveyor in Reading 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 Reading, 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 Reading
Reading is the largest town in the Thames Valley, with Reading station, the Royal Berkshire Hospital, the University of Reading and the business parks at Green Park and Thames Valley Park. With around 203,800 residents in the Reading Borough Council area, it has a large stock of 1960s and 1970s civic, education and commercial buildings, including the flat-roofed school, college and public buildings of that era. 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.
RAAC survey: how to get started in Reading
Three pieces of information get a RAAC survey in Reading 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 Reading, Caversham and Woodley, we plan the visits as one programme so that nothing is missed and nothing is surveyed twice.
What happens after the survey
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 Reading, 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 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 Reading 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 Reading 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 Reading?
Yes, and that is most of our work. School and academy RAAC surveys in Reading 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.
Also in Reading
RAAC assessment in Reading
RAAC structural assessment in Reading, Berkshire, by John Staves CEng FIStructE MIoD, working from Neil Smuts' survey.
RAAC assessment in ReadingRAAC scanning in Reading
RAAC scanning in Reading, Berkshire: non-destructive identification of RAAC planks and their reinforcement by Neil Smuts, President of the UK Concrete Scanning Standard.
RAAC scanning in ReadingRAAC survey near Reading
- RAAC survey Caversham
- RAAC survey Woodley
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- RAAC survey Bracknell
- RAAC survey Maidenhead
- RAAC survey Wokingham
- All Berkshire towns
Related: RAAC strengthening, RAAC remediation in Berkshire, RAAC confirmed buildings register, RAAC in schools.