For a RAAC survey in North Walsham, 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. Norfolk 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 Norfolk, among them Thomas Bullock Church of England Primary and Nursery Academy. The Department of Health and Social Care's list of hospital sites with confirmed RAAC includes James Paget Hospital, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Norwich Community Hospital in Norfolk. NDTScan cites the published lists as evidence that RAAC is in the Norfolk 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 North Walsham'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 North Walsham owner can see at once which elements need action, which need monitoring and which are sound.
One rule applies to every RAAC survey in North Walsham. 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 North Walsham client.
Scan before you repair. That is the standing advice for every North Walsham client, and the reason NDTScan reports what the concrete contains before anyone specifies what to do about it.
Services Available in North Walsham
- RAAC Identification Survey GPR based, plank by plank identification of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in roofs, floors and walls across North Walsham. 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 Norfolk 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 North Walsham owner needs an independent second opinion on a survey or a remediation proposal.
RAAC in and around North Walsham
Instructions in and around North Walsham 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 Norfolk 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 North Walsham from its Oxford base.
NDTScan also provides RAAC surveys in Norwich, King's Lynn, Great Yarmouth, Thetford, Gorleston-on-Sea and Dereham and the rest of Norfolk. 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 North Walsham 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.