Arboribus

On the Armadale Depot project we were brought in at masterplan design to work out which trees could stay, and the advice we gave held 95 per cent of the valuable tree canopy while the project still got the functional layout it was after. That is what Arboribus does: plan a development around its trees at the design stage, because a protection line on a drawing is easy and holding it once the excavators roll in is the actual work.

Luke Lumbus is our director. He began in 1999 as an apprentice tree surgeon and spent a decade on the tools, rope climbing, fine pruning, complex removals and aerial assessments, working through Certificates II, III and IV in Arboriculture and becoming a Certified Arborist with the International Society of Arboriculture. In 2008 he moved across into consultancy, taking a Diploma of Arboriculture at AQF 5 through Challenger TAFE and a Graduate Certificate in Arboriculture at AQF 8 through the University of Melbourne's Burnley campus. He is ISA Certified Arborist AU 0014A and QTRA registered user 1935. Twenty five years, more than 200 projects and better than 10,000 trees saved sit behind that.

Roots are where we can usually change a design for the better. At Kings Park we ran root sensitive investigations on the Sugar Gums so that any works around them could be drawn to suit what was under the ground. At Rossmoyne the same non destructive excavation told the designers where the public open space and the roadway alignments could go, with selective root pruning and remedial works specified before, during and after the build. Rootzone investigations map where the critical roots actually sit, which lets an engineer design around them and lets us set a Tree Protection Zone shaped to the site.

Ahead of any of that, a detailed tree survey collects the data on a site so the decisions that follow rest on something real. We have surveyed at Wattle Grove for an upcoming development, assessed the trees at Yanchep for a proposed school so the students end up with shade over their outdoor spaces, and delivered a visual tree assessment and arboricultural report on a heritage listed property at Parkerville. Where a site needs an ongoing framework, our tree management plans are written for that site rather than pulled off a template.

Once a build starts, the protection has to hold. We work to the Australian Standard for the Protection of Trees on Development Sites, sign off the protection fencing before anything begins, get the tree protection notes onto the construction drawings where contractors will actually read them, and stay across earthworks, services installation, dewatering and soil compaction while the job runs. Tree valuations use established methodologies for amenity value, for an insurance claim, for holding a contractor to their obligations, or to feed into urban planning. When a tree matter reaches a court, we act as arboricultural expert witness.

There is one more arm to the business. Germinatus is our tree growing service, collecting and nurturing seed and raising tree stock to Australian standards, so what goes back into a site is worth having. Our clients include Curtin University, Multiplex, the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Water Corporation, Cedar Woods, the City of Melville and the City of Armadale, and the work takes us across Perth, out to the WA Goldfields and down into the South West. If you have a development with trees on it, or one tree that needs a report behind it, send us a note through the contact form and tell us what you are dealing with.