For a RAAC survey in Mildenhall, 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. Suffolk 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 9 settings in Suffolk, among them Glade Academy, Stour Valley Community School and Newmarket Academy. The Department of Health and Social Care's list of hospital sites with confirmed RAAC includes West Suffolk Hospital in Suffolk. Those are the buildings that made the published lists, which cover schools, colleges and NHS sites. They are named here as evidence that the construction is present in Suffolk, not as NDTScan projects. Around Mildenhall the same roof and floor planks are in council buildings, housing, leisure centres, retail units and industrial sheds that nobody has counted.
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 Mildenhall owner can see at once which elements need action, which need monitoring and which are sound.
NDTScan's advice to Mildenhall 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 Mildenhall client, and the reason NDTScan reports what the concrete contains before anyone specifies what to do about it.
Services Available in Mildenhall
- RAAC Identification Survey GPR based, plank by plank identification of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in roofs, floors and walls across Mildenhall. 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 Suffolk 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 Mildenhall owner needs an independent second opinion on a survey or a remediation proposal.
RAAC in and around Mildenhall
Typical Mildenhall 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 Suffolk owners and their insurers. NDTScan covers Mildenhall from Oxford in the same way it covers the rest of England.
NDTScan also provides RAAC surveys in Ipswich, Lowestoft, Bury St Edmunds, Haverhill, Felixstowe and Sudbury and the rest of Suffolk. The rest of the region is covered from the East of England 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 Mildenhall 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.