For a RAAC survey in Drighlington, NDTScan brings something no general scanning contractor can: hands-on experience of identifying and analysing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete across the UK, in schools, hospitals, housing, public buildings and commercial estates. West Yorkshire has its share of the roofs and floors built with these planks between the late 1950s and the mid 1990s, and most have never been properly surveyed.
The Department for Education's list of education settings with confirmed RAAC, published in February 2024, includes 2 settings in Leeds, among them Shadwell Primary School and Woodkirk Academy. The Department of Health and Social Care's list of hospital sites with confirmed RAAC includes Airedale General Hospital in West Yorkshire. NDTScan names these buildings to show that RAAC is a live issue in West Yorkshire, not to suggest it has worked on them. The published lists cover education and NHS estates only. The same planks sit in council offices, housing, leisure centres, theatres, shops, depots and private commercial stock around Drighlington that no national list has ever counted.
The method NDTScan uses in Drighlington is the one it uses everywhere: identify first, then assess. Ground penetrating radar reads the plank's internal structure without cutting into it, distinguishing RAAC from the dense precast, hollowcore and timber it is often mistaken for. Every confirmed plank is then inspected for the defects that matter, cracking, deflection, short bearing, water damage, corrosion and earlier repairs, and classified in line with IStructE guidance. The Drighlington owner receives a plank-level record, not a general opinion.
NDTScan's advice to Drighlington 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 Drighlington client, and the reason NDTScan reports what the concrete contains before anyone specifies what to do about it.
Services Available in Drighlington
- RAAC Identification Survey GPR based, plank by plank identification of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in roofs, floors and walls across Drighlington. 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 Yorkshire 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 Drighlington owner needs an independent second opinion on a survey or a remediation proposal.
RAAC in and around Drighlington
Instructions in and around Drighlington 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 West Yorkshire owner has been given a survey or a remediation quote and wants a second opinion before spending. NDTScan works for the Department for Education, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Office of Government Property funded bodies as well as private owners, and attends Drighlington from its Oxford base.
NDTScan also provides RAAC surveys in Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, Wakefield, Halifax and Dewsbury and the rest of West Yorkshire. The rest of the region is covered from the Yorkshire and The Humber 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 Drighlington 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.