Published in August 2011

This document is intended to provide practical guidance on the investigation of potentially contaminated land in order to improve the standard of work being carried out within the industry. This guide is intended to assist the reader in exercising the skills necessary to complete an investigation in line with current good practice and to stimulate careful thought and planning from the start of the investigation process.

Once the investigation has been completed a decision can made regarding the necessity to undertake additional investigation or risk assessment.

A wealth of detailed guidance is provided in other industry, British Standards Institution (BSI) and regulatory guidance documents1. This can often be difficult to interpret without a general understanding of the main principles involved. Such documents should be referenced prior to undertaking any geoenvironmental investigation and the purpose of this document is simply to provide an overall frame of reference within which to consider the specific procedures noted within those documents and is not intended to replace them.

There are generally considered to be four essential steps to an investigation for land contamination:

STEP 1 Define the Investigation objectives

STEP 2 Develop a Conceptual Site Model (CSM)

STEP 3 Design and Carry out the Investigation

STEP 4 Review the CSM