NDTScan carries out RAAC surveys in Pontyclun 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 Rhondda Cynon Taf. NDTScan is the UK's specialist in identifying it, assessing it and telling an owner plainly what to do next.
The published RAAC lists cover education and NHS estates, and none of them names a Pontyclun building. NDTScan treats that as an absence of surveys rather than an absence of RAAC. Planks of this kind were installed across Rhondda Cynon Taf from the late 1950s to the mid 1990s in public buildings, housing, leisure centres and commercial units, and the owner of a flat-roofed building of that age has no way of knowing without an identification survey.
The method NDTScan uses in Pontyclun 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 Pontyclun owner receives a plank-level record, not a general opinion.
One rule applies to every RAAC survey in Pontyclun. 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 Pontyclun client.
Scan before you repair. That is the standing advice for every Pontyclun client, and the reason NDTScan reports what the concrete contains before anyone specifies what to do about it.
Services Available in Pontyclun
- RAAC Identification Survey GPR based, plank by plank identification of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in roofs, floors and walls across Pontyclun. 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 Rhondda Cynon Taf 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 Pontyclun owner needs an independent second opinion on a survey or a remediation proposal.
RAAC in and around Pontyclun
Instructions in and around Pontyclun 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 Rhondda Cynon Taf owner has been given a survey or a remediation quote and wants a second opinion before spending. NDTScan works for the Welsh Government and NHS Wales funded bodies as well as private owners, and attends Pontyclun from its Oxford base.
NDTScan also provides RAAC surveys in Aberdare, Pontypridd, Tonypandy, Church Village, Porth and Rhondda and the rest of Rhondda Cynon Taf. The rest of the region is covered from the Wales 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 Pontyclun 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.