The report that gets thrown out

How we work

Why we name the laboratory

A site investigation report is, in substance, an argument built on analytical numbers. Where those numbers came from decides whether the argument stands. A local planning authority or the Environment Agency can reject results that did not come from a laboratory holding UKAS accreditation to the relevant standard, and for soil analysis operating within the Environment Agency's certification scheme. When that happens the report does not get amended; the investigation gets repeated.

The incentive to cut this corner is obvious, because analysis is a visible line in a quotation and accreditation costs money. A cheaper quote with unaccredited analysis looks like the same deliverable until the point of submission. So we name the accredited laboratory we use, and we are explicit that we are not a testing laboratory ourselves — a consultancy implying it holds laboratory accreditation is one of the surer ways to have a report challenged later.

Before any of that, there is the part that can hurt people rather than budgets. Intrusive investigation means putting steel into ground that may contain live electricity cables, gas mains or water mains. Records are frequently incomplete, particularly on older or previously developed sites, so we obtain them, scan, trace and prove positions before drilling. Where services cannot be satisfactorily located we do not drill, and no programme pressure changes that answer.