NDTScan carries out RAAC surveys in Alexandria for schools, hospitals, councils, housing providers, universities and commercial owners. Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete was used in roofs, floors and walls from the late 1950s to the mid 1990s, and a great deal of it is still in service across West Dunbartonshire. NDTScan is the UK's specialist in identifying it, assessing it and telling an owner plainly what to do next.
No Alexandria building appears on the national lists NDTScan tracks, which cover education settings in England and NHS hospital sites. That says nothing about the stock. RAAC went into flat and shallow-pitched roofs across West Dunbartonshire through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, in schools, halls, clinics, leisure centres, offices, housing and industrial units, and most of it has never been surveyed.
NDTScan surveys RAAC in Alexandria in two stages that are usually completed on the same visit. First, identification: GPR and the plank's own signature, its width, its transverse reinforcement and its bearing detail, establish plank by plank whether the element is RAAC at all. Second, condition: each confirmed plank is inspected for cracking, deflection, bearing length, water ingress, corrosion and past repair, and the results are classified in line with IStructE guidance. The report says what was found, what was not found and how confident each reading is.
One rule applies to every RAAC survey in Alexandria. No remediation, propping, strengthening or replacement should be designed until each plank has been identified and its condition recorded. Some of the most expensive RAAC decisions in the UK were taken on roofs that had never been properly surveyed. The survey is the cheapest part of getting the decision right, and NDTScan will say so to every Alexandria client.
Scan before you repair. That is the standing advice for every Alexandria client, and the reason NDTScan reports what the concrete contains before anyone specifies what to do about it.
Services Available in Alexandria
- RAAC Identification Survey GPR based, plank by plank identification of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in roofs, floors and walls across Alexandria. Confirms what the element is made of without opening it up, and records plank widths, reinforcement and bearing details as evidence.
- RAAC Condition Assessment Plank level inspection of confirmed RAAC for cracking, deflection, bearing length, water ingress, corrosion and previous repairs, classified in line with IStructE guidance. Reported so a West Dunbartonshire engineer or estates team can act on it directly.
- RAAC Management and Reinspection Monitoring regimes, reinspection intervals and management plans for RAAC that is being kept in service, plus expert input where a Alexandria owner needs an independent second opinion on a survey or a remediation proposal.
RAAC in and around Alexandria
Around Alexandria the work divides into four kinds. Owners who do not know what their roof is made of and need it identified. Owners who know it is RAAC and need every plank assessed and classified in line with IStructE guidance. Estates teams who need a management plan and a reinspection regime for planks staying in service. And West Dunbartonshire clients who have a survey or a remediation proposal in front of them and want NDTScan's independent view before committing money. Public bodies, housing providers, insurers and private owners all instruct on the same basis.
NDTScan also provides RAAC surveys in Clydebank, Dumbarton, Bonhill, Duntocher and Hardgate, Balloch and Haldane and Faifley and the rest of West Dunbartonshire. The rest of the region is covered from the Scotland RAAC surveys page, and the service itself is described on the RAAC surveys page.
About NDTScan
NDTScan is a specialist non-destructive testing company based in Oxford and led by Neil Smuts, author of The RAAC Book. It is the UK's specialist in the identification and analysis of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, and a Level 4 UKCSS Operator, the first in the UK to achieve that certification. RAAC surveys in Alexandria sit alongside the company's concrete scanning and structural condition survey work, and every report is written to a standard suitable for engineering acceptance, insurers and dispute work.