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RAAC surveys in Thetford. The UK's reference point for RAAC.

RAAC Surveys Thetford | Identification and Assessment | NDTScan

RAAC identification, condition assessment and reporting to IStructE guidance across Thetford, Norfolk and the surrounding area. NDTScan attends from its Oxford base, anywhere in the UK.
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Cracked RAAC roof planks photographed during an NDTScan survey

Overview

RAAC surveys in Thetford are carried out by NDTScan, the UK's specialist in the identification and analysis of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete. The planks were installed in Norfolk buildings for nearly forty years, mainly in flat and shallow-pitched roofs, and they are now well beyond the design life their manufacturers assumed. Identifying them is the first step; understanding their condition is the one that matters.

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 names these buildings to show that RAAC is a live issue in Norfolk, 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 Thetford that no national list has ever counted.

NDTScan surveys RAAC in Thetford in two stages that are usually completed on the same visit. First, identification: GPR and the plank's own signature, its width, its transverse reinforcement and its bearing detail, establish plank by plank whether the element is RAAC at all. Second, condition: each confirmed plank is inspected for cracking, deflection, bearing length, water ingress, corrosion and past repair, and the results are classified in line with IStructE guidance. The report says what was found, what was not found and how confident each reading is.

One rule applies to every RAAC survey in Thetford. 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 Thetford client.

Scan before you repair. That is the standing advice for every Thetford client, and the reason NDTScan reports what the concrete contains before anyone specifies what to do about it.

Services Available in Thetford

  • RAAC Identification Survey GPR based, plank by plank identification of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in roofs, floors and walls across Thetford. 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 Thetford owner needs an independent second opinion on a survey or a remediation proposal.

RAAC in and around Thetford

Typical Thetford 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 Norfolk owners and their insurers. NDTScan covers Thetford from Oxford in the same way it covers the rest of England.

NDTScan also provides RAAC surveys in Norwich, King's Lynn, Great Yarmouth, Gorleston-on-Sea, Dereham and Wymondham 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 Thetford 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.

Thetford RAAC Services

  • RAAC Identification GPR based, plank by plank identification of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in Thetford roofs, floors and walls, without opening the structure.
  • Condition Assessment Cracking, deflection, bearing, water ingress, corrosion and previous repairs recorded for every confirmed plank in Thetford buildings.
  • IStructE Classification Findings classified in line with IStructE guidance so Norfolk owners and engineers can decide on closure, propping, management or replacement.
  • Schools and Colleges Identification and assessment for education estates across Norfolk, planned around term dates and occupied buildings.
  • NHS, Council and Housing Estates Hospitals, clinics, council buildings, leisure centres and housing stock in and around Thetford, with reporting that supports estate-wide decisions.
  • Nationwide from Oxford NDTScan attends Thetford and the whole of England from its Oxford base, whenever the work demands it, with every survey interpreted and reported in full.
Sales Support?

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Technical Support?

info@ ndtscan.com

Yes. NDTScan attends Thetford and the rest of Norfolk from its Oxford base, and works across the whole of the UK. RAAC identification and condition assessment is a core service, delivered by the company's own specialists and reported in line with IStructE guidance.
That is the normal situation. Most RAAC in the UK was installed without the word appearing on a drawing, and many buildings have lost their drawings altogether. NDTScan identifies the construction directly, plank by plank, using ground penetrating radar and the plank's physical signature, so the Thetford owner does not have to rely on records that were never kept.
Yes. NDTScan records each plank's condition and classifies the findings in line with IStructE guidance, which is what engineers, insurers and public bodies expect to see. For a Thetford building that gives the owner a defensible basis for deciding on closure, propping, management or replacement.
Anything with a flat or shallow-pitched roof built between the late 1950s and the mid 1990s: schools, colleges, hospitals, clinics, council offices, leisure centres, community halls, housing blocks, retail units and industrial sheds. Across Norfolk the education and NHS estates have been counted; the rest of the stock has not, and that is where most uninspected RAAC now sits.
NDTScan's own specialists, not a subcontractor. The company is the UK's specialist in RAAC identification and analysis, and the person who reads the radar data and classifies the planks is a specialist in this material. The Thetford report is the interpretation, not a set of marks on a ceiling.
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Thetford RAAC Survey FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions.

Common questions about RAAC identification, condition assessment and reporting in Thetford and across Norfolk, answered by NDTScan.
Yes. NDTScan attends Thetford and the rest of Norfolk from its Oxford base, and works across the whole of the UK. RAAC identification and condition assessment is a core service, delivered by the company's own specialists and reported in line with IStructE guidance.
That is the normal situation. Most RAAC in the UK was installed without the word appearing on a drawing, and many buildings have lost their drawings altogether. NDTScan identifies the construction directly, plank by plank, using ground penetrating radar and the plank's physical signature, so the Thetford owner does not have to rely on records that were never kept.
Yes. NDTScan records each plank's condition and classifies the findings in line with IStructE guidance, which is what engineers, insurers and public bodies expect to see. For a Thetford building that gives the owner a defensible basis for deciding on closure, propping, management or replacement.
Anything with a flat or shallow-pitched roof built between the late 1950s and the mid 1990s: schools, colleges, hospitals, clinics, council offices, leisure centres, community halls, housing blocks, retail units and industrial sheds. Across Norfolk the education and NHS estates have been counted; the rest of the stock has not, and that is where most uninspected RAAC now sits.
NDTScan's own specialists, not a subcontractor. The company is the UK's specialist in RAAC identification and analysis, and the person who reads the radar data and classifies the planks is a specialist in this material. The Thetford report is the interpretation, not a set of marks on a ceiling.