What to do with concrete between floor joists

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I am renovating a bathroom on the top floor of a period block of flats.

It was last done in the 1980s (my guess). I took up the vinyl, and removed the chipboard beneath. Under that was a lot of dust and what looked like loose dry rubble.

I swept all of it away, to reveal what looks like concrete between the joists:

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Is this a usual construction? The concrete is very "crumbly", although the joists look ok-ish (I am not entirely sure what to look/test for).

I am unlikely to need any of the underfloor pipework in the new bathroom layout (plan to run it in a box around the edge of the room for simplicity).
What's the best practice for renovating here? Remove the concrete? Keep it and build over? I intend to add underfloor heating (wire) and tiles.

Thanks!
 
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That is a bit weird! Perhaps it was done to add some mass for sound insulation. Doubt it would cause any more trouble removing it, but for the noise. What room is below, do you know?
 
It's the bathroom of the flat below; they are all the same shape and layout.

Yes, a bit weird! Can I just take the pipes out and screed over it?
 
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The infill is for sound proofing and insulation, it was a common practice in some areas many years ago. Simply leave it in place or lower it to suit.
Best practice would be to fix chipboard to the joists and work on top of it - you cannot screed over a soft surface.
The copper pipes will be redundant and irrelevant with UFH, but for my money I would stay with a radiator.
 

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