About Treework Environmental Practice

Four areas where we have led through innovation:

MyTrees Tree Management Software

We brought together a team of Arboricultural Consultants and IT Developers from the UK and Czech Republic to develop a database and GIS for efficient and accurate tree survey information capture, production of high quality reporting and management of tree populations.

Our ownership of MyTrees enables us to maintain high data quality, deliver reports and plans rapidly and to provide our clients with MyTrees without the need to charge a license fee, whether on a single computer, on their corporate network or through access to a remote server.

Historic Veteran Trees

In 1998, we developed the Specialist Survey Method for Veteran Trees, with Natural England and the Ancient Tree Forum, which has been adopted as the standard for surveying veteran, ancient and historic trees.

In consultation with our clients, associates and other managers of historic landscapes, we developed a system for producing management plans for veteran trees that support managers to successfully maintain and improve the condition of these sensitive and historic trees.

At the same time, we developed methods for managing veteran trees that minimise the stress caused by pruning, address the requirements of tree roots and enhance deadwood habitat, this method has become known as Conservation Arboriculture and we provide training to the tree surgeons who carry out the works in order that they can become skilled in applying the principals of Conservation Arboriculture.

Managers need to prioritise the application of resources and so we have developed a suite of scoring systems, for viability and habitat contribution, to identify those trees that will be most likely to benefit from intervention, those most at risk and those trees that provide highest levels of habitat benefit. These scoring systems also enable the comparison of veteran and historic tree populations between sites and over time.

Managing Tree Populations for Public Safety

We manage in excess of 50,000 trees in populations around the UK and provide our clients with the peace of mind that their liability for public safety in relation to trees is in our hands. We take this responsibility very seriously and have always considered our role to include the proportionate allocation of resources to manage risks from trees at a defendable level.

The Treework Environmental Practice Method for Tree Risk Inspection and Management provides high quality and cost effective management for trees that give tree owners and managers confidence that their duty of care for public safety is being met, that tree works are being carried out to a good agreed standard and that their resources are being spent effectively and proportionately.

In order to ensure that our clients receive the best service in terms of value and reliability we have consulted with experts in the field of risk such as DARM and QTRA, managers of tree populations and associates within the industry and we delivered The Future of Tree Risk Management Seminars in 2006 and 2007 (VI and VIII in the Innovations in Arboriculture seminar series). The National Tree Safety Group with the Forestry Commission was created out of these seminars and published the guidance document Common Sense Risk Management of Trees in 2011.

One of the key requirements when assessing risks posed by trees is to gain an understanding of the likelihood of structural tree failure.  In order to better understand the mechanical properties of tree roots and stems and their likelihood of failure in high winds we partnered with Baum Static Group in Germany and have studied, and now provide training in static load testing of trees and wind load analysis. Our Senior Consultant, Paul Muir, is the UKs leading expert in this field and all of our consultants are trained in these principles.

Trees in Design and Construction

We take great pride in supporting clients to gain planning permission and to incorporate trees sustainably into their design and have appointed a Principal Arboricultural Planning Consultant to direct our work in this area.

Our approach is to gain a good understanding of the development goals and, working within the Design Team or as external consultants, to provide clear, evidence-based, practical advice that contributes to successful design, planning application and construction, landscaping and handover of the completed development.

We employ a wide range of highly technical expertise and equipment including BIM compliant 3D modelling, Ground Penetrating Radar assessment of tree root locations, Static Load Testing of trees with damaged roots and modelling of the replacement of the monetary value of trees over time.

Giovanni Maruca, Director (Solstice Renewables) said: “Treework Environmental Practice has completed all the tree analysis on our different solar farm sites in a competent and professional manner, helping us to achieve success with our planning applications.”