Planning and development BS5837 Surveys and reports:

Tree survey and reporting for developers and planners to the highest professional standards , conducted to BS5837:2012 Trees in relation to design, demolition and construction: Recommendations, with the added bonus of professional landscape design plans for amelioration/offset planting, providing a ‘one stop shop’ for developers.

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Tree Inspection and Hazard Evaluation including high-tech Sonic Tomography and Resistograph decay detection:

In broad terms, tree owners have a duty of care in both civil and criminal law to take reasonable management measures to avoid foreseeable injury or harm. Negligence (and liability for harm) would result if it could be established that a competent check would have identified an unacceptable risk of harm and resulted in remedial works that would have prevented that harm occurring.

Holding professional certification and accreditations, I provide detailed condition assessments, providing short and long term management advice for individual trees. 

Where a potential problem is identified, it can be qualified using a PiCUS Sonic Tomography and/or Resistograph test. These high-tech approaches enable many otherwise perfectly sound trees to be retained, saving the owner the cost of felling, while providing peace of mind that the legal duty of care has been satisfied. Alternatively of course it can prove that tree works are necessary to prevent injury, and inform the extent/nature of those prescriptions. 

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Advice on tree-related legislation and regulations

Over 30 years’ experience in the legal sector enables me to provide expert advice on the legislation and regulations which apply to trees and hedges.

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Mortgage Reports

There is good evidence to show that mature trees enhance a property’s value.  However, many surveyors’ reports flag existing trees as posing a potential threat to a building.  Where the threat is unfounded, this can delay mortgage applications, cause unnecessary stress and  lead to costly and unnecessary tree removal.

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Subsidence and Insurance claims

Where trees are implicated in a claim for damage to a building, Chaucer Landscape Management will conduct a detailed assessment of the trees and the evidence put froward by the claimant to provide objective advice on the best course of action. Advice can also be provided if a property owner has concerns over the potential for a tree to cause damage.

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