Overview

I have been working in Arboriculture since 1995 when I had my first experience working as a groundsman for a tree surgery company. I completed the ten-week tree surgery course at Merrist Wood in 1997 and subsequently joined a Bath based tree surgery company, Greenman Environmental Management (GEM). I progressed to lead climber and eventually contracts manager working on a wide range of complex and challenging projects, this experience I believe is the essential foundation of my arboricultural knowledge. I passed the Arboricultural Association Technicians Certificate in 2002 and stated to carry out tree surveys along with my tree surgery duties and by the time I passed the Royal Forestry Society Professional Diploma in Arboriculture in 2010 I was working as a full-time consultant focused primarily on hazard and development. In my role at GEM I was fortunate to be involved with many challenging and interesting projects such as the Rail Track line side Tree Hazard Survey which was conducted in partnership with ADAS. The project involved surveying 40,000 linear miles of lineside, my role was to recruit 10 surveyors, facilitate appropriate training and certification for them to be able to work lineside, help oversee the survey and personally survey 4,000 line side miles over 2 years. In 2013 I started Assured Trees and have since built up a varied client base and have continued to build on my experience including working in the public sector as a Consultant Tree Officer for Bristol City Council and Bath and North East Somerset Council.