Soil Contamination Testing Services

Whether it's for buying or selling land, laying water pipes, growing vegetables or you're simply curious about the risk of contamination on your land or site, our tailored soil contamination testing for professional and domestic clients can help. We can carry out soil sampling as part of our assessment or we can send you a soil testing kit for you to take samples yourself. After your soil samples have been tested in our UKAS accredited laboratory, we can either provide laboratory results in a short report or provide more detailed analysis, including interpretations relevant to your specific site or project and, if deemed necessary, a recommendation for further work or remediation.

Soil Sample Collection - We can visit your site or property to carry out soil sampling, for contamination testing in a UKAS and MCERTS accredited laboratory, alternatively, we can send you a soil testing kit for you to take samples yourself. We can also provide recommendations for appropriate sampling at your site to ensure that the sampling is representative of the site or potentially affected soil.

Laboratory Soil Contamination Testing - Our laboratory contamination testing of soil samples can include a huge variety of contaminants from heavy metals and hydrocarbons that are often found on brownfield sites, to PCBs that may be present on sites near electrical sub stations. Simply tell us your situation and we can either build a suitable suite of contamination testing or carry out testing based on your specific request. Alternatively, if you're looking for a generic assessment of common contaminants, we can provide a generic suite of contaminants to allow assessment of soil contamination levels and the suitability of soil for the proposed use e.g. growing vegetables, residential garden, industrial or commercial etc...

Clear & Jargon Free Reporting - After your soil samples have been tested, we can simply provide your tabulated results in a short report or, if you would like a more detailed analysis and interpretation of your results, we can assess them against industry screening values to determine whether your site is suitable for its intended use. We can also provide a recommendation for further investigation or remediation, if deemed necessary.

Soil Sampling & Contamination Testing Examples

We offer a quick and convenient soil contamination testing service, fully tailored to your specific needs, however, we've highlighted some common projects we regularly help our clients with. Remember that we can tailor our soil contamination testing services to your specific requirements.

General Investigation - If you don't know what specific contaminants are potentially present at your site, or if you are simply curious about the condition on your land, we can carry out soil contamination testing for a generic suite of contaminants that pose a risk to human health. While contamination is far more likely on brownfield sites, elevated levels of contaminants can be present on undeveloped greenfield land and since these areas will not have been tested for contamination in the past, it may be desirable to carry out soil sampling and contamination testing for peace of mind.

Buying or Selling Land - When buying a plot of land or a site with some element of exposed natural ground, you may wish to identify potential soil contamination. If there is unidentified contamination at the site, you may be putting yourself and others at risk and may even be liable for environmental penalties if your site is found to be a significant contamination risk, even if this contamination occurred prior to your ownership of the site. Besides the obvious health risks, land that's contaminated will be far less valuable, due to the potential remediation costs, so if you purchase the land without prior knowledge of contamination issues, you may risk losing money. On the other hand, testing soil on land that you intend to sell to prove that it's free from contamination can add significant value to the land, particularly on sought after brownfield sites.

Growing Vegetables - A very popular request, from our domestic clients, is for the assessment of contamination at their property or allotment, prior to growing vegetables for domestic consumption. For projects similar to this we would usually conduct soil contamination testing for a general range of common contaminants and assess the results against specific criteria for homegrown produce, allowing us to advise the client on the suitability of consuming produce grown in sampled areas.

Water Supply Pipes - Prior to the installation of water supply pipes, it is often necessary to carry out soil contamination testing to ensure that the water supply will not be affected by soil contamination and that pipes will not be physically damaged by the soil conditions. The local water authority may request a soil condition report as part of a development and this will include soil sampling and testing for a suite of contaminants recommended by the United Kingdom Water Industry Research (UKWIR). This will allow you to specify pipe materials that will be appropriate and safe for the soil they are being laid in. A preliminary risk assessment may also be required prior to soil sampling and contamination testing, particularly on larger sites, so this should be confirmed in advance.

It's important to note that a soil contamination test alone may not be appropriate for discharging planning conditions. This may require a full phased Contaminated Land Investigation, including a desk study, in line with planning policy guidance.

Soil Contamination Testing Case Study & Review

Mid Suffolk District Council got in touch with us about our soil contamination testing options following their decision to dredge and rejuvenate a pond near the village of Wattisfield. Their specific requirement was to know more about what contaminants may lie within the silt to be dredged and how they could re-use or dispose of it. In order to keep costs and turnaround low the client opted to take soil samples themselves, using our sample test kit service. Soil contamination testing was carried out within days, following this, Mid Suffolk District Council kindly posted this review on Google and listed us as an approved supplier.

Very professional service and easy to communicate with. We sampled silt from a pond. Oakshire delivered the sample pots and arranged collection promptly. Report emailed out was clear and in plain English so I know exactly how to dispose of the silt safely. - Mid Suffolk District Council

Meet Our Soil Contamination Consultants

Consultants - Supervised by our Chief Technical Officer, Louis Turner, our fully comprehensive soil contamination testing services, are carried out by highly qualified consultants and combine over 30 years experience with detailed UKAS & MCERTS accredited laboratory testing.

Management - Our wealth of experience in project management, logistics and environmental consulting allows us to provide efficient, friendly and high quality soil contamination testing for our clients. As a company, we believe that helping clients achieve their goals while simultaneously protecting the environment is a true "win-win" situation.

Partners - Our experienced, professional and qualified consulting partners further extend the range of environmental and land contamination services we are able to provide. Our partners include a UKAS accredited laboratory that ensures all our soil contamination testing meets the relevant standards.

Contact Us - Contact us and let us know your contamination testing requirements. If your requirements are more complex, or you're looking for more information about our contaminated soil testing service or our company, a more formal consultation may be necessary. Following initial consultation we can provide an outline proposal detailing how we can help and the costs involved.

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