Soft Services

Arboriculture and Veg Works

Tree stock managed to a programme rather than a phone call: species assessed against the ground they are going into, felling planned around what is underneath, and clearance scheduled around the nesting season.

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In short

Airwaves Facilities Management delivers programmed arboriculture and vegetation management for estates, infrastructure and industrial sites across the UK. We assess site conditions before specifying species, manage tree stock to a schedule, carry out controlled felling with cranes and rigging, and clear vegetation at scale. At Millbrook we deployed a vegetation crew alongside civils to restore flood-damaged river banks.

Information on arboriculture and veg works

Arboriculture and vegetation work we cover

Specification-led tree and vegetation management, working to BS 3998.

Tree Planting & Establishment

We assess the site first, looking at soil type, moisture levels and sunlight exposure, then recommend species suited to that position rather than to a generic planting list. Planting into the wrong conditions is why establishment schemes fail three years later, long after the contractor has gone.

Programmed Tree Management

Planned pruning and maintenance across a site’s tree stock on a cycle, rather than reacting to whichever tree becomes a problem first. Dead and diseased wood removed, growth managed, obstruction of roads, paths and buildings prevented before it happens.

Controlled Felling & Dismantling

Larger trees brought down in a controlled manner using specialised equipment, with cranes and rigging where the tree cannot simply be felled. Sectional dismantling on constrained sites.

Vegetation Clearance at Scale

Site-wide and linear clearance, including watercourses, banks and boundaries. At Millbrook our vegetation management operatives worked alongside a civils gang with excavators to restore river banks and get water flowing away from a housing estate.

Infrastructure & Linear Clearance

Vegetation clearance for rail, highways and utility clients, where access windows are short, the constraints are someone else’s and the paperwork matters as much as the cutting.

Working to Specification

Where you have a tree survey, a planning condition or a specification to meet, we work to it and report against it, including to BS 3998, the British Standard for tree work that most specifications reference.

What's included

How a programme is delivered

Site assessment before specification

Soil type, moisture levels and sunlight exposure, plus what is already established and in what condition. Species selection follows the site, not a catalogue.
We identify what is protected

A Tree Preservation Order requires written council consent before any work. A tree in a conservation area without a TPO requires a section 211 notice giving the council six weeks’ notice, with exemptions for trees under 75mm in diameter and for removing deadwood from a living tree. On an estate with mature stock this is usually the first thing that needs establishing.
We plan around the nesting season

It is an offence to damage or destroy an active bird’s nest, so we schedule clearance programmes with that in mind. Planning it in at the programme stage costs nothing; discovering it in May stops the job.
Method chosen for the constraint

Straight felling, sectional dismantling, or cranes and rigging where access or what is underneath rules out the simpler option.
Multiple trades on one programme

We can put vegetation operatives, a civils gang and groundworks on the same site the same day, as we did at Millbrook.
Reported against the specification

Teams report from site on tablets, with before-and-after photography as standard, so a programme can be evidenced rather than described.

Included as standard

Site assessment before species selection
Protection status identified before work starts
Clearance planned around the nesting season
Arisings chipped or removed
Before-and-after photography, reported from site
24-hour emergency response, four-hour target

Proof of work

Arboriculture and Veg Works jobs we have done

September 2024

Millbrook: Flood Mitigation Works

Repairs to collapsed culvert & drainage repairs

Location: Uttoxeter
Duration: September 2024, 6 days
Value: £26,000.00

Read the full job →

I have been using Airwaves FM for many years now. Steve and the team are fantastic, professional, time conscientious and a pleasure to work with.

Hugh Penrose

Why choose us

Why us for arboriculture and veg works?

This is work bought against a written specification rather than a phone call, so the credentials and the standard matter more here than anywhere else.

Qualified people, working to BS 3998

The arboricultural certifications are held by the people doing the work, and BS 3998 is the standard a specification will reference. Both matter more on this service than any other, because it is bought against a written spec.
We assess the ground before we choose the tree

Soil type, moisture and sunlight surveyed before species selection. It is the step that decides whether a planting scheme is still there in five years.
A vegetation crew and a civils gang, same site, same day

At Millbrook a burst culvert was threatening neighbouring properties. We deployed vegetation management operatives alongside excavators to restore the banks and redirect water away from the housing estate. Six days, £26,000.
We find what is underneath the vegetation problem

That job did not stop at the banks. We cleared the drainage chambers, ran a CCTV survey of every adjacent drain, found a collapsed drain, excavated 2,500 × 3,000mm and repaired it.
We plan around the nesting season

It is an offence to damage or destroy an active nest, and the liability lands on the landowner rather than the contractor. We schedule for it at programme stage instead of discovering it in May.
Cranes and rigging where felling is not an option

Larger trees dismantled in a controlled manner using specialist lifting, rather than refusing the job or taking a risk with it.
Over 50 people, since 2017

Airwaves has been trading since March 2017 and the team is now more than fifty strong. Big enough to cover a national portfolio, small enough that you are not passed between account managers.

Gallery

Take a look at some pictures of our work.

Vegetation clearance and bank restoration at Millbrook

Emergency vegetation crew working alongside excavators

Vegetation management programme at a school site

Controlled removal and replacement of a dead tree

Tree planting assessed against site conditions

Before you enquire

Arboriculture and Veg Works: your questions answered

What is the difference between this and tree services?

Scale and specification. Tree services is one tree with a problem, whether dangerous, dead or in the way. This is a site full of trees managed to a programme: species selection assessed against ground conditions, planned maintenance cycles, controlled felling, and clearance at scale. If you have a tree survey or a planning condition in front of you, this is the service.

Do you hold an arboricultural qualification?

Yes, and we work to BS 3998, the British Standard for tree work that most specifications reference. If you are working to a tree survey or a planning condition, ask and we will tell you exactly who is doing the assessment.

Can you work to our specification or tree survey?

Yes, and report against it. Teams report from site on tablets with before-and-after photography, so a programme can be evidenced rather than just invoiced.

Do you check whether trees are protected?

We raise it at survey. A Tree Preservation Order needs written council consent before any work, and a tree in a conservation area without a TPO needs six weeks’ notice to the council under section 211, with exemptions for trees under 75mm diameter and for deadwood removal from a living tree. The penalties fall on the landowner, so it is worth establishing before anyone starts.

Will you work around nesting birds?

Yes, and we plan for it rather than react to it. It is an offence to damage or destroy an active nest, and the liability sits with the landowner. Planned at programme stage it costs nothing; discovered in May it stops the job.

Do you work for infrastructure clients?

Yes. Rail, highways and utilities, where the access windows are short and the constraints belong to someone else. It is a different discipline from estate work and we are set up for both.

How do you fell a tree you cannot drop?

Sectional dismantling, with cranes and rigging where the tree is too large or the site too constrained. The method follows the access and what is underneath, not the tree.

Outdoor work

Not quite what you need?

Five pages cover outdoor work, and each one does a different job.

Landscaping & GroundworksBuilding it: civils, excavation, drainage and surfacing.
Grounds MaintenanceKeeping it: the recurring scheduled contract, measured against KPIs.
GardeningGrowing it: planting, bed design and horticulture, for how it looks.
Tree ServicesOne tree with one problem, dealt with when it happens.

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Where we cover

Our service area

We deliver arboriculture and vegetation management across the UK, from our base at Berkswell, CV7 7SL. Wherever your sites are we can get to them, and if you have property in more than one region, one contract covers all of it.