Non-standard construction
The house is named as Reema hollow-panel concrete and no core sample is attached. What has the name established, and what concrete inside the panel was not tested?
The name has established a system label, not a test of the concrete inside the panel. The house is named as Reema hollow-panel concrete, and no core sample is attached. Naming is the surveyor identifying a non-standard system from the form of the building and the records available. The concrete within the hollow panel, and any reinforcement in it, was not drilled out and was not tested. A home survey does not sample concrete by looking at it. The label is an identification. The inside of the panel remains untested.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Reema hollow panel is a precast concrete system, which is why the name matters to a buyer and why a core is a different job. The survey can say why it used the name: the panel shape, the age, the estate, or papers in the pack. It cannot say the concrete is sound, carbonated, or chloride-damaged, because no core was taken and this visit does not do that chemistry. Unusual construction is the sort of building a Level 3 is described for.
Ask the solicitor for any repair-scheme certificate, PRC licence, or previous structural report, and keep a missing core as a missing test. If the panels themselves must be understood, a specialist who is instructed to sample them is the next step, not a rereading of the name. Do not tell a lender the concrete has been passed because the system was recognised. The name established what the survey thinks the house is. It did not test the panel.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What features led you to name the house as Reema hollow panel?
- Was any core sample taken or attached, or was the concrete untested?
- Which panels were visible, and which were covered?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the Reema name as identification, not as a core test.
- Ask the solicitor for any repair-scheme or structural papers.
- Instruct a specialist to sample the panels if the concrete must be known.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the panels are uncracked, is the concrete acceptable?
Uncracked faces do not test the concrete inside a hollow panel. The survey named the system and attached no core. Hidden reinforcement and the concrete around it were not sampled. A quiet elevation is not a material test, and the report has not said the panels are acceptable on the strength of their surface.
Does a neighbour’s repaired Reema prove this one was done too?
No. Another house is not this house, and the survey has no core for these panels. A repair next door does not sample the concrete here and does not produce a certificate for this address. The name established a system. The inside of this panel was not tested.