Project: Removal of a very large, mature oak that was in decline.

Location: Suburban property on the outskirts of Hereford City.

This customer contacted us as they had noticed that their large Oak tree, which had a TPO and was therefore regulated by Herefordshire Council, appeared to be in decline. This tree, which was approximately 25 meters high, was located on the boundary of their property with many limbs overhanging their home. Needless to say, they were very concerned about the possible impact that the tree could have on their building below should the health of the tree continue to decline.

We arranged for a site visit and initial assessment to take place promptly, where we observed that the tree had multiple fungal pathogens and was beyond saving. The tree had been exhibiting fungus for some years, but the owner had initially been knocking the visible fungal growth off the tree, without realising that this unfortunately did not remove the underlying problem. Given the busy location and the scale of the tree, the safest course of action was removal.  The owner accepted our quote and Herefordshire Council was immediately contacted to by us to begin the process of removing the TPO which was on the tree, thereby allowing for tree removal to go ahead.

Works then commenced, and the tree was removed using a three-man team over the course of a week. Because of the high-risk location, the tree limbs were ‘rigged’ down in sections, using specific placement of anchor points to prevent any damage to the buildings below. The large stem was then removed in stages with the assistance of a jacking system to enable maximum control over where each section would fall.  

The site was then cleared, with debris and arisings removed. The large timber was retained at the customer’s request as they wanted the wood to be milled for building purposes. A mobile sawmill was contracted in to undertake this work.