You may need a contaminated land search if you are:

• buying a house
• developing or re-developing land for residential or commercial use
• changing how the land at a site is used

Environmental searches

Environmental searches are usually carried out by private search companies during the property buying process whether you are a private property buyer or commercial developer/contractor.

They will provide their professional opinion and a certificate to help you understand more about the condition of the land your property or planned development is on.

These certificates are not a legal requirement and are not always provided as part of service.

If further action is suggested or more details required in addition to the initial search, then we can provide a contaminated land search.

Information provided in a contaminated land search

A contaminated land search provides information held by us, which forms part of a Phase 1 Desk Study report. This tells you how the site or land nearby has been used in the past and if there are any risks of future contamination.

Searches are based on a 250m radius of the specific site and include:

• site history, based on historical Ordnance Survey mapping, showing if the land was formally used as landfill or for any industrial processes
• permitted processes under the Environmental Permitting (England & Wales) Regulations 2016

This will also include a search of our records with:

• any known records of gas emissions and contamination issues in the immediate area
• any known remediation or remediation notices
• information from site investigations and remediation reports held
• details of the site in regards to our Inspection Strategy under Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990