Structural Soils

What Structural Soils does

Structural Soils is a UK multidisciplinary ground investigation company, established in 1964 and operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary of RSK Group since 2007. The company provides end-to-end geotechnical and geoenvironmental services to public-sector infrastructure clients and regulated industries — transport (National Highways, Transport Scotland), nuclear (EDF Energy, Horizon Nuclear Power, Magnox), water utilities (Thames Water, Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, United Utilities), rail (Network Rail via RISQS framework) and international science projects (CERN). Its operating base comprises 250 staff across seven UK offices (Bristol, Castleford, Coventry, Glasgow, Hemel Hempstead, Wigan, Plymouth), 33 in-house drilling rigs spanning rotary, sonic, cable percussion and window sampling configurations, and four UKAS-accredited geotechnical testing laboratories (Bristol, Castleford, Hemel Hempstead, Tunbridge Wells and the Falkland Islands).

The service portfolio covers nine integrated lines: Geotechnical consultancy, Geoenvironmental assessment, Geologging (downhole geophysical tools plus CoreScan3 digital core scanning at 200+ megapixel resolution), Drilling, Data Management (AGS format output), Soil/Rock/Material Testing including a dedicated RED contaminated sample laboratory, Monitoring (gas, groundwater, inclinometer, telemetry), In Situ Testing (CBR, plate load, thermal resistivity), and Geotechnical Equipment Hire with next-day UK-wide delivery. Self-delivery is positioned as a differentiator, with the company claiming minimal subcontractor reliance on contracts such as the £16M A66 upgrade (over 15,000 shifts, 10km+ of drilling logged, zero major incidents). Certifications include ISO 9001/14001/45001, Achilles UVDB Verify 100% scores for eight consecutive years, RISQS five-star audited supplier status, BDA trade membership, FORS Bronze and Environment Agency waste carrier licensing.

Revenue is generated through three primary streams: project-based fees for ground investigation contracts (ranging from £100k to £16M per project), usage-based weekly hire of specialist geotechnical equipment (£100-£500 per item per week), and per-test fees for UKAS-accredited laboratory work. Customers are acquired through competitive tendering for major infrastructure projects, long-term framework agreements with utilities and public-sector bodies, and direct technical engagement via a sales-led motion. The company is private, does not disclose revenue, and has no external funding rounds; growth is funded internally and through its RSK Group parent.

Name

Structural Soils

Legal name

Structural Soils Limited

Website

https://soils.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1964

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Structural Soils is a UK ground investigation company (founded 1964, RSK Group subsidiary) providing geotechnical, geoenvironmental, drilling, laboratory testing and geologging services to transport, nuclear, water, rail and international clients from seven UK offices with 33 drilling rigs and four UKAS-accredited laboratories.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Ground Investigation Services

NAICS

Geophysical Surveying and Mapping Services (541360), Site Preparation Contractors (23891)

SIC

Heavy Construction Other Than Bldg Const - Contractors (1600)

akta.pro primary industry

Geotechnical Investigation & Site Characterization (Boreholes, In-situ Testing, Lab Testing) (IMAFAOAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Geotechnical Design, Engineering & Consulting (Analysis, Design, Peer Review) (IMAFAOAK), Geotechnical Instrumentation & Monitoring (Settlement, Inclinometers, Piezometers) (IMAFAOAH), Geotechnical Site Investigation & Engineering Geology (Borings, Lab Testing) (EUAHAFAE)

Keywords

• Ground investigation services
• Geotechnical site investigation
• Geoenvironmental consulting
• Soil and rock testing
• Geotechnical drilling services

Headquarters

HQ city

Bristol

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices8 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Ground Investigation Services: Project-based fees for geotechnical and geoenvironmental ground investigations for clients across multiple sectors including transport, nuclear, water, rail, and property. Services include drilling, sampling, laboratory testing, reporting, and consultancy.
2. Geotechnical Equipment Hire: Weekly rental of specialist geotechnical equipment including hand shear vane, cone penetrometers, dynamic cone penetrometers, borehole vane, piston sampler, and other testing equipment with next-day UK-wide delivery
3. Laboratory Testing Services: UKAS-accredited soil, rock, aggregate and material testing services with fees per test based on test type complexity ranging from classification tests to advanced triaxial testing

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Structural Soils is a multidisciplinary ground investigation company delivering integrated geotechnical and geoenvironmental services including drilling, sampling, geologging, in-situ testing, UKAS-accredited laboratory testing, monitoring, and geotechnical reporting. The company also rents out specialist geotechnical equipment and provides CoreScan3 digital core scanning as an add-on service. Services are delivered through 33 in-house drilling rigs, four UKAS-accredited laboratories, and 250 staff across seven UK offices.

Product overview

Structural Soils is a multidisciplinary ground investigation company offering an integrated portfolio of geotechnical and geoenvironmental services. Its core offering comprises nine in-house service lines — Geotechnical Services, Geoenvironmental Services, Geologging Services, Drilling Services, Data Management, Soil/Rock/Material Testing, Monitoring Services, In Situ Testing, and Geotechnical Equipment Hire — supplemented by a CoreScan3 digital core scanning add-on. The services are designed to function as a complete end-to-end ground investigation package: drilling crews obtain samples in the field, geologging and in-situ testing provide subsurface characterisation, UKAS-accredited laboratories perform physical and mechanical testing, monitoring covers post-investigation environmental and geotechnical parameters, data management delivers results in standardised AGS digital format, and specialist equipment can be hired separately for client use. The company also draws on sister companies within the RSK Group for supplementary services such as geophysics, chemical testing, archaeology, and ecology.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Geotechnical Services Ground investigation consultancy covering bearing capacity, foundation settlement, pile foundations, pavement design, soakaway drainage, slope stability analysis, earthworks, and geotechnical instrumentation. Provides desk studies, factual and interpretive reports, and coal mining risk assessments for infrastructure and construction projects.
• Geoenvironmental Services Preliminary risk assessments, intrusive ground investigations using low-disturbance techniques, geoenvironmental laboratory testing, generic quantitative risk assessment (GQRA), remediation validation, and waste assessments using HazWasteOnline for contaminated land and environmental projects.
• Drilling Services In-house fleet of rotary, sonic, cable percussion and window sampling rigs covering dual sonic-rotary drilling, conventional rotary drilling with wireline coring, cable percussive drilling, window sampling, dynamic probing, and concrete coring for diverse ground conditions and difficult access environments.
• Geologging Services Downhole geophysical logging, packer testing, high-pressure dilatometer testing, and CoreScan3 digital core scanning for rock cores, including optical and acoustic televiewer, formation density, PS logger, magnetic resonance, and impeller flowmeter tools.
• Soil, Rock and Material Testing UKAS-accredited geotechnical and materials testing in Bristol, Castleford and Hemel Hempstead laboratories covering soil classification, compaction, consolidation, permeability, shear strength, triaxial testing, rock tests, aggregate tests, and unbound mixtures. Includes a dedicated Contaminated Sample (RED) Laboratory for asbestos and hydrocarbon-contaminated samples.
• Monitoring Services Geoenvironmental and geotechnical monitoring including gas and groundwater monitoring, low-flow sampling, flux box surveys, GPS borehole surveying, permeability testing, inclinometer and extensometer monitoring, and remote datalogger and telemetry systems with SMS/email trigger notifications.
• In Situ Testing Nationwide in situ testing including California bearing ratio (CBR), density testing, lightweight deflectometer, plate load test, soakaway/infiltration testing, thermal and electrical resistivity, and WAC/UKWIR pipeline selection testing.
• Data Management Contract data management, large contract operations, and data visualisation services, with deliverables in AGS format (version 4.1.1), .xlsx, and .csv formats.
• Geotechnical Equipment Hire Hire service for specialist geotechnical equipment across the UK with next-day delivery, including hand shear vane, soil assessment cone penetrometer, dip meters, TRL dynamic cone penetrometer, borehole vane, piston sampler, Torvane, Schmidt hammer, Clegg Hammer, and six-wheel all-terrain vehicles.
• CoreScan3 Digital Core Scanning Service Advanced digital core scanning service using CoreScan3 system capturing 360-degree and planar images of rock cores at over 200 megapixels resolution, including structural analysis, stereographic projections, mechanical parameter logs (RQD, core recovery), and immediate preliminary image access.

Quantifiable outcome

• Zero major incidents on A66 project covering 30 weeks with over 15,000 shifts
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core, major and supporting.

• RSK GroupflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2007RSK Group acquired Structural Soils in 2007, making it part of one of the UK's leading environmental, engineering and technical services businesses. Structural Soils leverages RSK's integrated capabilities offering archaeology, ecology, geophysics, chemical testing and other supplementary ground investigation services through sister companies.
• EnvirolabcoreTechnology or IntegrationEnvirolab is a sister company providing contamination laboratory testing services. Structural Soils has a great working relationship with Envirolab which tests for an extensive range of contaminants. Samples can be submitted for stand-alone testing and results are provided in HazWasteOnline format.
• RSK RadiologicalcoreTechnology or IntegrationSister company providing radiological services. Structural Soils partnered with RSK Radiological to become the first UK ground investigation contractor to embrace and roll out behavioural safety training to all employees on nuclear sites.
• AtkinsRéalis and WSP Joint VenturemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTechnical advisers for Transport Scotland's A83 Rest And Be Thankful project. Structural Soils is working closely with this JV alongside Transport Scotland to deliver geotechnical information for the project.
• JB Site InvestigationssupportingTechnology or IntegrationRSK sister company supporting the A83 Rest And Be Thankful ground investigation project with supplementary services.
• CANsupportingTechnology or IntegrationRSK sister company supporting the A83 Rest And Be Thankful ground investigation project with supplementary services.
• RSK GeosciencessupportingTechnology or IntegrationRSK sister company supporting the A83 Rest And Be Thankful ground investigation project with geosciences expertise.
• Central AlliancesupportingTechnology or IntegrationRSK sister company supporting the A83 Rest And Be Thankful ground investigation project with supplementary services.
• Drilling SuppliessupportingTechnology or IntegrationRSK sister company supporting the A83 Rest And Be Thankful ground investigation project with drilling supplies.
• ADASsupportingTechnology or IntegrationRSK sister company supporting the A83 Rest And Be Thankful ground investigation project with environmental and agricultural services.
• RSK BiocensussupportingTechnology or IntegrationRSK sister company supporting the A83 Rest And Be Thankful ground investigation project with ecological and biodiversity services.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Soil Engineering: UK-based geotechnical and geoenvironmental ground investigation contractor offering drilling, sampling, laboratory testing and reporting services — directly comparable in service portfolio, customer base (UK infrastructure and property developers) and scale to Structural Soils.
• BAM Ritchies: Ground engineering division of Royal BAM Group providing drilling, grouting, piling and geotechnical services across the UK — directly comparable end-to-end ground investigation and foundation delivery capability to major UK infrastructure clients.
• Geotechnical Engineering Ltd: UK-based ground investigation contractor offering cable percussion, rotary and dynamic probing drilling with in-house UKAS-accredited laboratories — directly comparable services, customer mix and equipment fleet to Structural Soils.

Broad incumbents

• Fugro: Global geotechnical, geophysical and site characterisation services firm with extensive offshore and onshore capability. Overlaps directly with Structural Soils on ground investigation but operates at much larger scale and with a global, offshore-heavy footprint.
• Keller Group: International geotechnical and foundation engineering contractor with UK operations covering piling, ground improvement and ground investigation — overlaps on the foundation-engineering side and on UK infrastructure customers.
• AtkinsRéalis: Global engineering services firm that acts as technical adviser on major UK transport projects (e.g. A83 alongside WSP) and integrates ground investigation into larger design-and-deliver contracts — overlaps on customer base and high-value UK infrastructure tenders.
• WSP: Global engineering consultancy active as technical adviser on UK transport and infrastructure programmes; competes with Structural Soils on integrated ground investigation plus design packages for clients like National Highways and Transport Scotland.
• Arcadis: Global design and engineering consultancy with significant UK ground engineering and environmental capabilities — competes on tier-1 UK infrastructure tenders that bundle investigation with design and project management.

Others

• RSK Group: Parent company of Structural Soils and a major UK integrated environmental and engineering services group; comparable as a portfolio benchmark for Structural Soils' market positioning, though Structural Soils represents only one specialist subsidiary within RSK.

Emerging players

• Geotechnical Observations: UK specialist in geotechnical and structural instrumentation and monitoring — overlapping niche focus with Structural Soils' monitoring and instrumentation services and a relevant peer for cross-sell into infrastructure asset-management clients.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/structural-soils
• Instagraminstagram.com/structural_soils
• Xx.com/structuralsoils

Compliance15 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Structural Soils