Westworks Consultancy

Every report that leaves this office is written by a qualified arborist certified to AQF Level 5 Diploma or AQF Level 8 Graduate level, and written in line with Australian standards. Westworks Consultancy is an arboricultural consultancy based at Oldbury, south of Perth, doing assessments, reports and advice for residential, commercial and development projects. We abide by the Code of Ethics set by Arboriculture Australia, the peak industry body here, and by the International Society of Arboriculture.

Mark Short manages the consultancy and brings over 20 years across arboriculture and horticulture, worked through local government, the private sector and botanical gardens, with a Graduate Certificate in Arboriculture from the University of Melbourne, a Diploma of Arboriculture and a Diploma of Horticulture. Kelvin Ussher began in arboriculture in 1992 as a practising arborist on general tree maintenance, moved on to complex pruning, removal operations and vegetation management around powerlines, and over the past 30 years has built up a deep understanding of tree management on large scale projects. Both of us are registered Quantified Tree Risk Assessment users and hold the Tree Risk Assessment Qualification through the ISA.

A visual tree assessment is usually the starting point, a detailed ground based look at a tree's health and structural integrity with a written report of the findings. Where the eye cannot settle the question, we use the latest PiCUS 3 Sonic Tomograph. Sonic tomography works much like an ultrasound, showing how much sound wood a tree is putting on, what internal defects are present and where the decay sits, all without compromising the tree's own defences. We can extend that to an advanced tree assessment, adding aerial assessment, soil and tissue analysis, and root assessment and mapping.

Risk assessment is done with Quantified Tree Risk Assessment, which is what an owner or asset manager needs to show duty of care has been met on a tree in a public place. Where a build is going on around trees, our tree protection reports follow AS4970-2009, the Australian Standard for the Protection of Trees on Development Sites, and set out practical guidance for the project. A tree survey gives you the number and types of trees on a site in a GIS spatial environment, which feeds design decisions and where services can be run. On longer jobs we can sit on the project as project arborist and stay across the tree management as the work goes.

Our team is certified to provide Level 1 Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) assessments and to give practical bushfire planning advice for residential and rural properties throughout Western Australia. There is a flora survey as well, which identifies the species on a property and any rare or declared flora among them, plus new tree planting reports and planting plans, pre-settlement assessments, tree valuations and expert witness work.

The work goes out to developers, architects, civil companies, mining operations, asset managers and government departments, and to homeowners with one tree they are not sure about. Tell us the tree or the site and we will tell you which assessment it actually needs. Call 0407 870 927 or email [email protected].