Matthew Reed Tree Consultancy

Every Arboricultural Impact Assessment I write now works to AS4970-2025, the updated version of the standard covering trees on development sites. I am Matthew Reed, an AQF Level 5 consulting arborist, and Matthew Reed Tree Consultancy covers Sydney through to the Illawarra.

AQF Level 5 is the diploma level qualification in arboriculture, and I hold the International Society of Arboriculture's Tree Risk Assessment Qualification alongside it. I am a member of Arboriculture Australia and of the International Society of Arboriculture, and I am fully insured. My reports go out with proper CAD diagrams: I work in ArborCAD, so tree protection zones, structural root zones and canopy spreads are drawn to scale over your site plan and an assessor can see straight away where the encroachments fall and by how much.

An impact assessment is what a consent authority generally asks for when a proposal sits near trees worth keeping. It sets out which trees are affected, what the works will do to them, and what has to happen to protect the ones being retained. An arborist report can also be needed simply to prune or remove a tree in an area with tree protection controls, and the council will normally name the report it wants in its own paperwork. Where the wording is not clear, send it to me and I will tell you which one it is asking for.

I give assistance with Development Applications so that the arboricultural material lines up with the rest of the submission and does not become the thing that holds up a determination. DA supervision is the site end of the same work: checking on the ground that the protective fencing went up where the plan said, that it stays there, and that the works happening around retained trees match what was actually approved.

The tree doctor side is diagnosis and treatment for trees in decline. That means establishing what is genuinely behind the problem, whether pest, disease, root damage or the site conditions themselves, before deciding what treatment is worth doing. Not every declining tree can be brought back, and it is better to know that early than after the money has been spent on it.

The consultancy runs from Sydney down through the Illawarra, for homeowners, builders, developers and anyone who has been asked for a tree report and is not sure which one they need. Ring me or send an email with what the council has asked for, and I will tell you what is required and what it will involve.