SIMON TOWNEND Founder of Soil Property Testing Ltd

Simon came into the industry after serving as a construction materials technician in the Royal Engineers during the 1970s. On leaving the army he joined a drilling company managing the laboratory and later the drilling teams.

In 1983 he set up Soil Property Testing Limited with the aim of providing a precise, reliable and competent testing laboratory. In 1990 under Simons’s leadership the company was amongst the first independent laboratories to be awarded UKAS accreditation.

For the 31 years Simon has developed the company with an emphasis on quality of service to our customers, many of whom have been with us since 1983. In November 2013 Simon handed over the day to day responsibilities to Jon Garner

THE TEAM

JON GARNER BEng (Hon) FGS Managing Director

Jon was appointed Managing Director in November 2013 with the emphasis of controlling the day to day operations of the company.

Jon joined the company in 1984 where he developed practical skills in all aspects of soil testing, during this time he gained a BTech Higher National Diploma in Civil Engineering. He left the company to continue full time studies at Portsmouth University and in 1990 he was awarded a BEng with Honours in Engineering Geology and Geotechnics.

After a period of working for a geotechnical consultancy Jon returned to Soil Property Testing Limited as the Quality Manager in 1991 and is pivotal in ensuring the company and staff meet all the requirements of BS EN ISO/IEC on a daily basis.

BILL JOHNSTONE Technical Director

Bill started his technical career with ARC in 1974 as a concrete technician and in 1977 he joined the Royal Engineers and trained as a Construction Materials Technician. During his army career he gained valuable experience on many construction projects around the world each with its own unique problems.

Bill joined Soil Property Testing Limited in 1987 as Laboratory Manager and ran our laboratory for many years. As a director he oversees our materials division and utilising his many years experience in the industry to ensure all our staff are well trained in the disciplines and techniques of soils and materials testing to provide our customers with accurate and reliable test results.

Shirley Hand Financial Director

Shirley joined joined the company in 1997 as our Accounts Manager, Company Secretary in 2000, and appointed to Financial Director in 2020.

Matthew Stevenson Site Services Manager

Matt joined the company as a laboratory and site services technician. With extensive experience both within the laboratory and on site Matt was appointed our Site Services Manager in 2022.