For a RAAC survey in Monkton Heathfield, 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. Somerset 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 one setting in Somerset, among them Selworthy Special School. The Department of Health and Social Care's list of hospital sites with confirmed RAAC includes Royal United Hospital, Bath in Somerset. NDTScan names these buildings to show that RAAC is a live issue in Somerset, 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 Monkton Heathfield that no national list has ever 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 Monkton Heathfield owner can see at once which elements need action, which need monitoring and which are sound.
One rule applies to every RAAC survey in Monkton Heathfield. No remediation, propping, strengthening or replacement should be designed until each plank has been identified and its condition recorded. Some of the most expensive RAAC decisions in the UK were taken on roofs that had never been properly surveyed. The survey is the cheapest part of getting the decision right, and NDTScan will say so to every Monkton Heathfield client.
Scan before you repair. That is the standing advice for every Monkton Heathfield client, and the reason NDTScan reports what the concrete contains before anyone specifies what to do about it.
Services Available in Monkton Heathfield
- RAAC Identification Survey GPR based, plank by plank identification of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in roofs, floors and walls across Monkton Heathfield. 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 Somerset 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 Monkton Heathfield owner needs an independent second opinion on a survey or a remediation proposal.
RAAC in and around Monkton Heathfield
Typical Monkton Heathfield 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 Somerset owners and their insurers. NDTScan covers Monkton Heathfield from Oxford in the same way it covers the rest of England.
NDTScan also provides RAAC surveys in Bath, Weston-super-Mare, Taunton, Yeovil, Bridgwater and Frome and the rest of Somerset. The rest of the region is covered from the South West 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 Monkton Heathfield 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.