Free scoping call
What the planning condition asks and what the site is.
Essex and the South East · Developers and owners
Unaccredited data
Unaccredited data
gets rejected.
A planning authority or the Environment Agency can throw out analytical results that did not come from a UKAS-accredited laboratory. The report fails, and the investigation you already paid for has to be done again.
- 2022trading since
- UKASlab used
- Tracedbefore drilling
- LCRMframework
What we do
Four stages, two non-negotiables
Services are traced before anything intrusive, and analysis goes to an accredited laboratory.
Desk studies
Preliminary risk assessment from historical, geological and regulatory sources.
See the programTest drilling and boring
Window sampling, boreholes and trial pits, after buried services are located and proved.
See the programContamination assessment
Sampling and assessment against the current risk management framework.
See the programReporting for planning
Reports to discharge planning conditions, with the sampling limitations stated plainly.
See the program
How it works
How we work
Start with the desk study, trace and prove buried services before anything intrusive, send samples to an accredited laboratory, and state in every report what the sampling cannot tell you.
Desk study first
Sometimes it concludes no drilling is needed.
Services proved, then drilled
Or stopped, if they cannot be located.
Accredited analysis, honest limits
Named laboratory, and the limitations stated.
Working together
Ways to work with us
Quoted per site after a scoping conversation. Laboratory analysis is billed at cost through the accredited laboratory.
Desk study
Preliminary risk assessment, before any drilling.
- Historical and geological review
- Conceptual site model
- Honest recommendation
- May conclude no drilling needed
- Fixed fee agreed
Full investigation
Desk study, intrusive works, analysis and reporting.
- Services traced and proved
- UKAS-accredited analysis
- Laboratory named to you
- Framework-compliant assessment
- Limitations stated clearly
What we will not do
Said plainly, because it protects the report.
- No drilling with services unproved
- No unaccredited analysis
- No claim to be a UKAS lab
- No certifying a site clean
- No structural or civil design
Every engagement is quoted after a free consultation. No subscription.
How we work
A consultancy that names its laboratory
Terra Analytical UK Ltd is a private limited company registered in England and Wales under company number 14329724, based at Feering near Colchester in Essex and trading since September 2022. The work is test drilling and boring together with environmental consulting: desk studies, site investigation, contamination assessment and reporting for planning.
Two things determine whether an investigation was money well spent. The first is where the analysis was done. A planning authority or the Environment Agency can reject analytical data that did not come from a laboratory holding UKAS accreditation, and for soils operating within the relevant certification scheme — so a report built on cheap analysis fails and the work is repeated at the client's cost. We are not an accredited testing laboratory ourselves, we do not claim to be, and we will tell you which accredited laboratory our samples go to. The second is what happens before the rig turns: buried services are traced and proved, and if they cannot be located satisfactorily we stop. Every report also states that sampling characterises discrete points on given dates and cannot certify a site free of contamination.
Frequently asked
The questions we get most
Why does it matter which laboratory you use?
Because a regulator can reject the data. Analytical results normally need to come from a laboratory holding UKAS accreditation, and for soil analysis operating within the Environment Agency's certification scheme. If they do not, the report built on them can be refused, and the investigation has to be done again. We use an accredited laboratory and we will name it for you.
Are you UKAS accredited yourselves?
No, and we are careful not to imply it. We are a consultancy and a drilling contractor, not a testing laboratory. The accreditation that matters for your data sits with the independent laboratory we submit samples to, and we will tell you which one and what its scope covers. A consultancy claiming laboratory accreditation it does not hold is exactly what gets a report challenged.
Can you start drilling tomorrow? We are up against a deadline.
Only once buried services have been located and proved. Striking a live cable or a gas main is the real hazard in this work and the consequences are not recoverable. If the records are poor and we cannot satisfactorily locate services, we will not drill — and we would rather tell you that now than on the day.
Can you certify the site is clean?
No, and no honest consultancy will. An investigation characterises conditions at the locations sampled on the dates sampled. Ground varies between those points, and made ground in particular varies a great deal. Every report we produce says that explicitly rather than hiding it in an appendix, because a developer relying on a false sense of certainty is the one who gets hurt.
Do we definitely need an intrusive investigation?
Not always, and the desk study is what tells us. A proper historical and geological review sometimes concludes that the risk is low enough that intrusive work is not required, and we will report that even though it is a smaller fee. Starting with drilling before the desk study is how money gets spent in the wrong places.
We found something that looks like asbestos in the made ground. What now?
Work stops and we tell you in writing. Asbestos in soil is a real and increasingly common finding, and it changes both the assessment and the way the material has to be handled. Sampling and any removal go through the proper regime, with licensed contractors where the work is licensable.
Got a site or a planning condition to deal with?
A free scoping conversation and a written quotation, with the scope set out.