Concrete scanning in Dubai & the UAE

What do concrete scanning results look like?

The safe-to-drill markings and the scan report pictured above are real Dervoss outputs: the marks your crew works to, and GPR cross-sections showing rebar and post-tension cables inside a UAE slab. No other page in this market shows you the output before you order it; we’d rather you know exactly what you’re buying.

What risks does concrete scanning prevent?

UAE slabs are dense with hidden risk: post-tensioned construction is standard in towers and podiums, conduits run live power through structure, and older buildings hide undocumented alterations. Hitting a PT tendon isn’t a repair item; it’s a structural incident with engineering assessment, load restrictions and programme impact. Hitting live power is worse. A rebar scan before coring is the cheapest insurance a contractor can buy, which is why our concrete scanning teams do same-day callouts across Dubai daily.

How do you map rebar across a whole slab?

Single-channel GPR reads one line at a time, which is why concrete scanning is usually sold as a spot check: you mark the positions you intend to drill, and the scan tells you what sits under those positions. Mapping a whole floor plate that way means walking a grid line by line, and the cost stops making sense long before the area does.

Our Proceq GP8100 changes that arithmetic. It is a six-antenna array with a 25 cm effective scanning width, so a single pass records what previously took six line scans, at 1,200 scans per second. Stepped-frequency operation from 400 to 4000 MHz reads up to 80 cm into concrete, separates objects as close as 4 cm apart, and returns depths accurate to ±5 mm against a direct calibration.

What that buys you is coverage. Reinforcement position, spacing and cover depth across a full slab, deck or podium, delivered as a drawing rather than a set of marks on the floor: that is the input a structural engineer needs for strengthening design, a QA/QC team needs for cover compliance records, and an asset owner needs before committing to a refurbishment. In practice the GP8100 covers about 300 to 500 m² of slab in a working day, depending on access and the detail required.

Standalone survey-grade scanning, not a demolition add-on

Most concrete scanning in Dubai is sold as a bolt-on by cutting and coring contractors, the people whose saw is waiting. Dervoss scans as an independent survey specialist: our only job is telling you accurately what’s inside the concrete. Findings are marked on the slab, documented with depths in a report you can hand to the structural engineer, and, where the project needs it, delivered as a DWG layout that integrates with as-built drawings and renovation documentation. Coring through a ground-bearing slab? Pair the scan with utility mapping in one visit: what’s inside the slab and what’s directly beneath it.

GPR concrete scanning before core cutting and core drilling

Most of our concrete scanning work is ordered by contractors about to core, often for MEP penetrations in a fit-out or renovation: GPR concrete scanning marks the safe positions, the concrete coring crew drills the same day, and the scan report goes into the project file as evidence. Ordering the scan and the coring for the same morning is the usual arrangement in Dubai, and the scan typically takes under an hour for a standard set of penetration points.