Westworks Consultancy

Mark Short manages Westworks Consultancy out of our office at Oldbury, south of Perth, with more than twenty years in arboriculture and horticulture behind him across local government, the private sector and botanical gardens. He holds a Graduate Certificate in Arboriculture from the University of Melbourne at AQF Level 8, a Diploma of Arboriculture and a Diploma of Horticulture. Kelvin Ussher, our consulting arborist, started in arboriculture in 1992 on general tree maintenance, moved into complex pruning, removal operations and vegetation management around powerlines, and has spent the last thirty years on large scale projects where the tree protection had to actually hold. Both are registered Quantified Tree Risk Assessment users and hold the ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification.

Every report that leaves this office is written by a qualified arborist certified to AQF Level 5 Diploma or AQF Level 8 Graduate level, in line with Australian standards, and we abide by the Code of Ethics set by Arboriculture Australia and by the International Society of Arboriculture. Our environmental consultant holds an honours degree in Environmental Science. On the other end of the work are residential and commercial developers, architects, civil companies, mining operations, asset managers, local and state government departments, and homeowners with one tree they are not sure about.

On the Armadale Line Upgrade we have been identifying and mapping endemic trees and plants through the design phase, along the rail corridor and across the temporary depot and material holding sites, so the design team could keep what was worth keeping. At the City of Bayswater we have helped residents relocate verge trees where a proposed crossover would otherwise have cost the tree its place. For the Department of Health we assess the trees in hospital grounds across Perth, running general health and condition surveys, individual assessments and sonic tomography on the ones that warrant it.

Where there are concerns about a tree's health or structural integrity, we start with a visual tree assessment: a detailed ground based look at its condition, with a written report of the findings and what should be done. When the eye cannot settle the question, our PiCUS 3 Sonic Tomograph reads the trunk the way an ultrasound reads a body, showing how much sound wood the tree is putting on and where the decay sits, without breaking the chemical defences a drill would. From there an advanced tree assessment adds aerial inspection, soil and tissue analysis, and root assessment and mapping. Risk assessment runs on QTRA, which is how an owner or asset manager demonstrates the 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 a tree survey gives you the count and the species on a site in a GIS spatial environment to feed road, utility and open space placement. On longer jobs we will sit on the project team as project arborist. We are certified for Level 1 Bushfire Attack Level assessments throughout Western Australia as well, assessed against AS3959, the WA Planning for Bushfire Risk Management Guidelines and the Bush Fires Act 1954, and we write vegetation management plans and flora surveys alongside them. Tell us the tree or the site, and we will tell you which assessment it actually needs before anyone commits to a fee.