For a RAAC survey in Hamble-le-Rice, 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. Hampshire 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 5 settings in Hampshire, among them Havant Academy, St Anne's Catholic Primary School and Farnborough College of Technology. The Department of Health and Social Care's list of hospital sites with confirmed RAAC includes Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Winchester and Southampton General Hospital in Hampshire. NDTScan cites the published lists as evidence that RAAC is in the Hampshire 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 Hamble-le-Rice's council, housing, leisure, retail and commercial buildings has not been, and that is where most uninspected RAAC now sits.
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 Hamble-le-Rice owner can see at once which elements need action, which need monitoring and which are sound.
NDTScan's advice to Hamble-le-Rice 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 Hamble-le-Rice client, and the reason NDTScan reports what the concrete contains before anyone specifies what to do about it.
Services Available in Hamble-le-Rice
- RAAC Identification Survey GPR based, plank by plank identification of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in roofs, floors and walls across Hamble-le-Rice. 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 Hampshire 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 Hamble-le-Rice owner needs an independent second opinion on a survey or a remediation proposal.
RAAC in and around Hamble-le-Rice
Instructions in and around Hamble-le-Rice 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 Hampshire 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 Hamble-le-Rice from its Oxford base.
NDTScan also provides RAAC surveys in Southampton, Portsmouth, Basingstoke, Gosport, Farnborough and Winchester and the rest of Hampshire. The rest of the region is covered from the South East 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 Hamble-le-Rice 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.