RAAC surveys in Carnforth are carried out by NDTScan, the UK's specialist in the identification and analysis of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete. The planks were installed in Lancashire buildings for nearly forty years, mainly in flat and shallow-pitched roofs, and they are now well beyond the design life their manufacturers assumed. Identifying them is the first step; understanding their condition is the one that matters.
The Department for Education's list of education settings with confirmed RAAC, published in February 2024, includes 3 settings in Lancashire, among them Haslingden St James Church of England Primary School, Knuzden St Oswald's Church of England Primary Academy and Our Lady's Catholic High School. The Department of Health and Social Care's list of hospital sites with confirmed RAAC includes Royal Blackburn Hospital and Blackpool Victoria Hospital in Lancashire. Preston Guild Hall has also been publicly reported as containing RAAC. NDTScan cites the published lists as evidence that RAAC is in the Lancashire building stock, and for no other reason. Education and health estates were counted because government asked for them to be counted. The equivalent stock in Carnforth's council, housing, leisure, retail and commercial buildings has not been, and that is where most uninspected RAAC now sits.
NDTScan surveys RAAC in Carnforth 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.
NDTScan's advice to Carnforth owners is consistent: survey before you decide. A RAAC roof that has been identified and assessed plank by plank can be managed, propped, strengthened or replaced on evidence. One that has only been glanced at will be closed, propped or replaced on fear, and that is where budgets go. The survey is the smallest cost in the chain.
Scan before you repair. That is the standing advice for every Carnforth client, and the reason NDTScan reports what the concrete contains before anyone specifies what to do about it.
Services Available in Carnforth
- RAAC Identification Survey GPR based, plank by plank identification of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in roofs, floors and walls across Carnforth. 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 Lancashire 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 Carnforth owner needs an independent second opinion on a survey or a remediation proposal.
RAAC in and around Carnforth
Typical Carnforth instructions: RAAC identification in schools, halls, clinics and council buildings built between 1955 and 1995; plank by plank condition assessment of confirmed RAAC roofs and floors; risk classification in line with IStructE guidance to support decisions on closure, propping or continued use; reinspection and monitoring of managed RAAC; and independent review of surveys and remediation proposals for Lancashire owners and their insurers. NDTScan covers Carnforth from Oxford in the same way it covers the rest of England.
NDTScan also provides RAAC surveys in Blackpool, Blackburn, Preston, Burnley, Lancaster and Lytham St Anne's and the rest of Lancashire. The rest of the region is covered from the North West 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 Carnforth 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.