Arboriculture
Large-scale tree management for the organisations that can't afford it going wrong: councils, estates, facilities managers, schools, and developers. Planned programmes, compliant paperwork, and crews the NHS and Gloucestershire Police already trust.
ARB Approved · ISO 9001 & 14001
What We Do
Trees managed like assets, not problems.
Commercial arboriculture is tree management at organisational scale: surveying what you own, prioritising by risk, delivering works on a programme, and producing the records that prove your duty of care was discharged. Silver Tree Services runs commercial tree programmes across Gloucestershire and nationwide for clients including the NHS, Gloucestershire Police, Stroud District Council, and Savills, with NPTC-certificated teams working to BS3998:2010 and the compliance file procurement expects already complete. Here is each service properly explained.
How it works
Step One
The Quote
Free, no-obligation and usually within the week. We come and look — no guessing over the phone.
Step Two
Survey & Plan
Qualified assessment, method statement and any TPO or BS5837 checks before a saw is started.
Step Three
On The Tools
Accredited crews, the right kit for the job, and your site kept safe and tidy throughout.
Step Four
Cleared & Signed Off
Chipped, cleared, photographed and certified. You get the paperwork, not just a tidy garden.
Planned Tree Works Programmes
The core of commercial arboriculture: cyclical pruning, reductions, deadwooding, and removals across a site or portfolio, delivered as a programme rather than a panic. Programmed works cost less per tree than reactive callouts, spread spend predictably across financial years, and shrink the emergency budget line because failing trees get caught before they fail.
Programmes are built from your survey data (ours or an existing consultant’s), grouped geographically so mobilisation is efficient, and phased around your operational calendar: term times, trading hours, events, and tenant sensitivities all planned in before a crew is booked.
You might need a planned works programme if:
- Tree spend is unpredictable and reactive year to year
- A survey has produced a works list nobody has actioned
- Multiple sites each have their own ad-hoc tree contractor
- Budget holders want tree costs phased and forecastable
- Insurance or audit has questioned your tree management
- Trees are visibly declining across the estate
| Tree Size | Typical Scope | Guide Price |
|---|---|---|
| Small garden tree | Up to 6m, light reduction | From £250 |
| Medium tree | 6–12m, moderate reduction | From £400 |
Tree Surveys & Risk Management
You can’t manage what hasn’t been surveyed, and under the Occupiers’ Liability Acts you can’t defend what wasn’t recorded. Our survey team maps and assesses tree stock, grades risk against the targets beneath each tree, and produces inspection records that satisfy insurers, auditors, and the difficult morning after a limb drops. Surveys feed directly into the works programme, so findings become scheduled jobs rather than a PDF in a drawer.
You might need a tree survey if:
- You own or manage land with trees and have no inspection records
- An insurer, auditor, or solicitor has asked for evidence of tree management
- Trees stand over car parks, walkways, roads, or play areas
- A claim or near-miss has concentrated minds
- You're acquiring a site and need to know what liability comes with it
| Tree Size | Typical Scope | Guide Price |
|---|---|---|
| Small garden tree | Up to 6m, light reduction | From £250 |
| Medium tree | 6–12m, moderate reduction | From £400 |
Sectional Dismantling & Complex Removals
Commercial removals are rarely open-field fells. Trees over buildings, car parks, substations, highways, and live operational areas come down in rigged sections, with every limb lowered under control, exclusion zones managed, and the site working around the job rather than closed by it. Where machinery earns its place, MEWPs with IPAF-licensed operators reach what shouldn’t be climbed, and our crews are CSCS-carded for construction environments.
You might need a complex removal if:
- A tree must come out over buildings, parking, or infrastructure
- The tree is dead or decayed beyond safe climbing
- Works sit inside a live site that can't shut for the day
- A highway, footpath, or right of way needs managing during works
- Previous contractors have declined the job
| Tree Size | Typical Scope | Guide Price |
|---|---|---|
| Small garden tree | Up to 6m, light reduction | From £250 |
| Medium tree | 6–12m, moderate reduction | From £400 |
Emergency & Storm Response
When weather takes trees down across a portfolio, the order of response matters: access and safety first, documentation for insurers second, tidy-up third. Commercial clients get agreed callout terms in the contract, one number whichever site has the problem, and make-safe works photographed and recorded so claims don’t stall. Because our tree, clearance, and grounds teams share one base, storm response scales across multiple sites in the same event.
You might need contracted storm response if:
- Your sites have significant tree stock and public access
- Past storms have meant ringing round contractors at 7am
- Insurers require documented make-safe procedures
- Multiple sites could be hit in a single weather event
| Tree Size | Typical Scope | Guide Price |
|---|---|---|
| Small garden tree | Up to 6m, light reduction | From £250 |
| Medium tree | 6–12m, moderate reduction | From £400 |
Vegetation & Boundary Management
The slower-burning half of commercial tree care: boundary lines encroaching on neighbours, self-set growth swallowing fences and signage, hedgerows outgrowing their legal and practical limits, and sightlines closing at entrances. We manage it on a cycle, with the 1 March to 31 August bird nesting season planned around as standard and habitat retained where it costs nothing to keep. Heavier growth hands over naturally to our site clearance teams, and grass and grounds to grounds maintenance, under one contract where you want one throat to choke.
You might need vegetation management if:
- Boundaries, fences, or signage are disappearing into growth
- Neighbouring owners are raising encroachment
- Entrance sightlines or lighting are being obscured
- Self-set trees are establishing where they'll cost money later
| Tree Size | Typical Scope | Guide Price |
|---|---|---|
| Small garden tree | Up to 6m, light reduction | From £250 |
| Medium tree | 6–12m, moderate reduction | From £400 |
Silver Tree Services has traded for over 20 years from Shurdington, Cheltenham, with 30+ qualified staff across seven specialist teams, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification, ARB Approved Contractor status, and SMAS SSIP accreditation. Crews are NPTC-certificated with IPAF and CSCS where work requires it, RAMS are produced per site, DBS-checked operatives are available for sensitive settings, and public and employers’ liability insurance covers every job. The client list, NHS, Gloucestershire Police, Stroud District Council, Savills, the Church of England, is the vetting evidence.
Areas we cover
Commercial arboriculture across Gloucestershire, including Cheltenham, Gloucester, Stroud, and the Cotswolds, plus Bristol, Bath, Swindon, surrounding counties, and contract work nationwide.
Frequently Asked Questions About Commercial Arboriculture
What's the difference between arboriculture and tree surgery?
Tree surgery is the operational work, pruning, dismantling, felling, while arboriculture is the whole discipline of managing trees: surveying, risk assessment, planning, legal compliance, and the works programme that follows. Commercially the distinction matters because organisations don’t just need cuts made, they need tree stock managed and the management evidenced. Silver Tree Services provides both across Gloucestershire and nationwide, with surveys feeding programmes and NPTC-certificated crews delivering the works to BS3998:2010.
Who is legally responsible for trees on commercial property?
The occupier or owner of the land, under the Occupiers’ Liability Acts 1957 and 1984, which means taking reasonable care that trees don’t injure people or damage property, and being able to show it. In practice that requires periodic inspection by someone competent, works prioritised from the findings, and records of both. Silver Tree Services provides exactly that cycle for commercial clients across Gloucestershire, with documentation that stands up to insurers and, if it ever comes to it, courts.
How much does a commercial tree works programme cost?
Single-site annual programmes typically start from around £1,500 per year, with multi-site portfolios priced to the survey findings and phased to your budget. The honest answer is that programmes cost what your backlog dictates in year one, then settle into predictable cyclical spend, which is the point: planned works run cheaper per tree than emergency callouts, and the budget line stops being a guess. Silver Tree Services prices from survey data, itemised, with no obligation: 01242 472560.
Can you work on live operational sites?
Yes, that’s most of what commercial arboriculture is. Exclusion zones are sized and managed so the rest of the site keeps working, noisy operations are scheduled around your sensitive hours, pedestrian and traffic routes are maintained or diverted with proper signage, and RAMS specific to your site govern the lot. Silver Tree Services works live healthcare, education, retail, and office sites across Gloucestershire weekly, and the supervisor coordinates with your FM, not around them.
Do you provide RAMS and compliance documentation?
As standard, before work starts. Every commercial job gets site-specific risk assessments and method statements, insurance certificates are supplied with the quote, and our SMAS SSIP accreditation answers the health and safety section of most PQQs in one line. Silver Tree Services holds ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, ARB Approved Contractor status, and NPTC certificates of competence across the crews, with DBS-checked operatives available where settings require them.
Can you handle TPO and conservation area paperwork at portfolio scale?
Yes. Commercial portfolios across Gloucestershire routinely include protected trees, TPO consents and six-week conservation area notices are prepared and submitted as part of the programme, and works are sequenced so paperwork lead times never stall the schedule. Fines for unauthorised work run up to £20,000 per tree and land on whoever commissioned it, which is precisely why Silver Tree Services checks protection status across every site before a programme is priced, not after.
Ready When You Are
Your tree stock,
under management.
Send the site list or the problem, and we’ll come back with a survey proposal, a programme, and numbers your budget holder can plan around.
Or call · 01242 472560