NDTScan carries out RAAC surveys in Loanhead 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 Midlothian. NDTScan is the UK's specialist in identifying it, assessing it and telling an owner plainly what to do next.
No Loanhead 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 Midlothian 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.
The method NDTScan uses in Loanhead 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 Loanhead owner receives a plank-level record, not a general opinion.
NDTScan's advice to Loanhead 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 Loanhead client, and the reason NDTScan reports what the concrete contains before anyone specifies what to do about it.
Services Available in Loanhead
- RAAC Identification Survey GPR based, plank by plank identification of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in roofs, floors and walls across Loanhead. 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 Midlothian 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 Loanhead owner needs an independent second opinion on a survey or a remediation proposal.
RAAC in and around Loanhead
Instructions in and around Loanhead 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 Midlothian 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 Loanhead from its Oxford base.
NDTScan also provides RAAC surveys in Bonnyrigg, Penicuik, Dalkeith, Mayfield, Gorebridge and Danderhall and the rest of Midlothian. 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 Loanhead 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.