NDTScan carries out RAAC surveys in Dreghorn 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 North Ayrshire. NDTScan is the UK's specialist in identifying it, assessing it and telling an owner plainly what to do next.
The published RAAC lists cover education and NHS estates, and none of them names a Dreghorn building. NDTScan treats that as an absence of surveys rather than an absence of RAAC. Planks of this kind were installed across North Ayrshire from the late 1950s to the mid 1990s in public buildings, housing, leisure centres and commercial units, and the owner of a flat-roofed building of that age has no way of knowing without an identification survey.
A RAAC survey from NDTScan starts with identification. Ground penetrating radar separates aerated planks from dense concrete, hollowcore and timber decks plank by plank, and the reinforcement pattern, transverse bars and plank widths confirm the reading without opening the roof. Condition comes next: cracking, deflection, end bearing, water staining, corrosion and previous repairs are recorded for each plank, and the findings are classified in line with IStructE guidance so the Dreghorn owner can see at once which elements need action, which need monitoring and which are sound.
The most expensive mistake in Dreghorn, as everywhere else, is to act on RAAC before it has been understood. Whole buildings have been closed on the strength of a visual inspection that could not tell RAAC from hollowcore. NDTScan's position is that identification and condition assessment come first, remediation second, and the report has to be good enough to design from.
Scan before you repair. That is the standing advice for every Dreghorn client, and the reason NDTScan reports what the concrete contains before anyone specifies what to do about it.
Services Available in Dreghorn
- RAAC Identification Survey GPR based, plank by plank identification of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in roofs, floors and walls across Dreghorn. 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 North Ayrshire 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 Dreghorn owner needs an independent second opinion on a survey or a remediation proposal.
RAAC in and around Dreghorn
Instructions in and around Dreghorn follow the RAAC lifecycle. Identification surveys where the construction of a flat or shallow roof is uncertain. Condition assessment of planks already known to be RAAC. Risk classification to IStructE guidance to support closure, propping or continued use decisions. Management plans and reinspection for planks kept in service. Independent review where a North Ayrshire owner has been given a survey or a remediation quote and wants a second opinion before spending. NDTScan works for the Scottish Government, NHS Scotland and the Scottish Futures Trust funded bodies as well as private owners, and attends Dreghorn from its Oxford base.
NDTScan also provides RAAC surveys in Irvine, Kilwinning, Saltcoats, Largs, Ardrossan and Stevenston and the rest of North Ayrshire. 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 Dreghorn 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.