NDTScan carries out RAAC surveys in Ynysybwl 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 Ynysybwl 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.
NDTScan surveys RAAC in Ynysybwl 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 Ynysybwl. 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 Ynysybwl client.
Scan before you repair. That is the standing advice for every Ynysybwl client, and the reason NDTScan reports what the concrete contains before anyone specifies what to do about it.
Services Available in Ynysybwl
- RAAC Identification Survey GPR based, plank by plank identification of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in roofs, floors and walls across Ynysybwl. 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 Ynysybwl owner needs an independent second opinion on a survey or a remediation proposal.
RAAC in and around Ynysybwl
Around Ynysybwl the work divides into four kinds. Owners who do not know what their roof is made of and need it identified. Owners who know it is RAAC and need every plank assessed and classified in line with IStructE guidance. Estates teams who need a management plan and a reinspection regime for planks staying in service. And Rhondda Cynon Taf clients who have a survey or a remediation proposal in front of them and want NDTScan's independent view before committing money. Public bodies, housing providers, insurers and private owners all instruct on the same basis.
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 Ynysybwl 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.