About

Alan Yardley set up Lank CoreLab in 2017 after spending over a decade working inside large analytical consortia. The work was technically sound, but the experience of being a client was often poor: reports arrived late, results were presented without context, and getting a straight answer from the analyst who actually ran your test was nearly impossible. He wanted to build something smaller and more direct, where the person who signs the report is also the person who picks up the phone.

The lab grew steadily through word of mouth from environmental consultancies, small food producers, and private clients who had been frustrated by the same things Alan had seen from the other side. A turning point came in the winter of 2020 when a local housing developer brought in a complex multi-contaminant soil brief that a larger lab had declined as too small. Lank CoreLab took it on, delivered within the agreed timeline, and that client has sent work every quarter since. That job clarified what the lab is actually for: the briefs that fall between the cracks of the big operations.

Today the lab handles several hundred submissions a year across water, soil, food, material, and air testing. The team is small by design. Alan leads all analytical work personally, supported by two analysts and an administrator. Every report carries a named analyst, a plain-language summary, and a direct phone number. The lab is accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 and participates in external proficiency testing schemes quarterly. New clients often say the same thing after their first report: they finally understand what their results mean.