The geotechnical site investigation strategy for the development of an offshore wind farm - which often comprise more than 100 wind turbine genera-tors (WTGs) - employs a combination of both in situ testing and sampling bore-holes for classification and advanced laboratory testing. The piezocone cone pen-etration test (CPTu) is the main investigation tool and is conducted at each WTG foundation location to facilitate location-specific foundation designs. As such, a robust correlation between CPTu parameters and engineering properties needs to be established based on results of laboratory testing performed on high-quality samples. The effects of sampling on the triaxial behaviour of transitional soils have not been reported in the literature to the same extent as for clays. This paper explores the use of the gel-push (GP) sampler to retrieve intact specimens of tran-sitional soils to guide and inform the widely accepted practice of specimen re-constitution in the offshore industry – due to the difficulty in sampling in these types of soils. An onshore test site was selected because it provides more control on the operational procedures during sampling and in situ testing. Sample dis-turbance was assessed by comparing shear wave velocity measurements from seismic CPTu with values measured in laboratory tests. Triaxial tests were per-formed on intact and reconstituted specimens to evaluate the effects of fabric and structure on the constitutive response. The analyses show that the shear wave velocity of GP samples agree well with seismic CPTu measurements, indicating that the retrieved specimens are of good quality. In contrast, the intact and recon-stituted specimens exhibited dilatant and contractive behaviour, respectively, during triaxial testing indicating the importance of testing specimens mimicking the in-situ fabric and structure.