Urbans

Which machine turns up decides how a tree comes down, so we walk the work zone first, identify the hazards and the access problems, and choose the technique from there. Climbers dismantle by hand on rope and harness, using lowering ropes and devices to bring limbs down under control where there are buildings, structures or other trees underneath. Where a tree is unsafe to climb or sits close to power lines, the elevated work platforms go in, truck mounted or tracked, knuckle boom or straight boom depending on what the site allows, so the tree can be taken apart in handheld sections. For dangerous, large or awkward timber we have access to cranes from three tonnes through to 100 tonnes, plus crane trucks to shift the logs once they are down. Where there is open space and clearance from obstacles, clear felling from ground level with pulling ropes, winches or a wedge knocked into the back cut is the quickest way through it.

Urbans started as a one-man lawn mowing and weed control round in 1976, when Leon Whitehead was trading as Leon's Lawn Service. It became SA Weed Control in 1988, SA Parks and Gardens in 1996, UrbanVirons Group in 2004 and Urbans in 2020. Today there are more than 140 of us working from the head office at Kilburn with depots at Lonsdale and Mount Barker, and we have been looking after outdoor spaces across Adelaide and South Australia for over 40 years.

Crown work is the everyday side of it. Our tree pruning takes in crown reduction and shaping, crown thinning, crown lifting and raising, and dead wooding to cut away overgrown, unhealthy or dead branches, and our arborists work out how far to go so the tree keeps its vitality and still does what it was planted to do. For stumps we use purpose-built grinders chosen against the size and type of what is left and how deeply it is set in the ground, and stump poisoning is there for the ones where grinding will not suit. Land clearing runs from a single block for a new build up to large acreage for a developer, industrial sites and new road construction, and on the bigger ones we survey the site first to settle the methodology and the equipment. Where large volumes of timber come off, we look for ways to recycle it into habitat creation, landscaping material, school requirements or training organisations.

Our arborist reports and tree inspections give you a detailed analysis of a tree, whether it is healthy, stressed or at risk of becoming dangerous to your property or the community. Our arborists know the local species and the ones that are not native to the region, and they know how council tree regulations bear on removals, planting, pruning and heritage status, which is usually what decides your options. When storm damage, high winds or lightning brings something down, emergency works run 24/7.

Trees are one division of several here. The same business covers civil works, environmental services, horticulture, landscape construction, sports turf and open spaces, and weed and pest control, for state and local government, commercial grounds and facilities, community, aged care and residential housing, and civil and construction clients, so the trees can sit inside a single grounds contract. Ring the office or call into Kilburn, tell us what needs doing, whether that is one tree over a school fence or a program across an entire council area, and we will get an arborist out to look at it and price it.