AV Arboriculture Ltd

Tree Consultancy Edinburgh
Arbor Vitae Arboriculture Ltd are experienced and dedicated tree consultants based in Edinburgh, Scotland. We offer professional and expert tree inspections and tree surveys, inspections of trees for bats, soil de-compaction and root excavation, work specifications for contractors as well as tree planting and management services for a broad range of corporate and domestic clients in across Scotland. Owned by Mike Charkow, a climbing arborist with over 10 years of tree surgery and consultancy experience, AVA Ltd is dedicated to providing a comprehensive and professional advisory service.

All our work is guided by industry best practice and the latest developments in arboricultural research. Mike Charkow regularly attends professional seminars and conferences to keep up to date with the latest arboricultural research and industry best practises. He is a committee member of the Scottish Branch of The Arboricultural Association, and a professional member of The Consulting Arborists Society.

BS5837 (planning surveys): We use the latest technology to accurately capture data on site, and to provide you with easily-digested information that will enable you to manage your trees in a safe and systematic manner. We use CAD enabled software to accurately plot trees with their identifiers and root protection zones; this information can then be used by the architect to design around the trees.

Tree Inspections: Tree owners are required to maintain their trees in a safe state by Duty of Care law. As tree inspection experts, we will thoroughly inspect your trees and specify remedial works to ensure that you maintain your duty of care.

Soil Decompaction: Like us, tree roots need oxygen and water in order to survive. We can decompact a tree’s rooting area in order to allow the tree roots to survive. Have a look at our case study.

Contact Arbor Vitae Professional Tree Services for tree surgery services in and around Edinburgh.

Tree Condition Inspections
This service is aimed at tree-owners who want to know if their trees may pose a threat to persons or property. It is the tree-owner’s duty of care to others to have their trees professionally inspected and and recommended work carried out. A minimum of 5 years between professional tree inspections is recommended by the UK Government.

It is vital that you employ a properly trained and experienced arborist to inspect your trees. This knowledge and experience lets the arborist understand the visual symptoms of incipient failure, based on the context of the tree, and will allow appropriate management recommendations to be made. Tree surgeons may not always know enough about the physiological and structural symptoms to give you correct advice.

Pre-Development (BS5837) Surveys
As part of the planning process, you may require a pre-development survey of trees on the site to be carried out; this is commonly known as a BS5837 Survey. This will mainly concern architects and developers, but can also apply to home-owners.

A BS5837 survey will collect accurate data for each tree, assess their condition and categorise them. A full report with relevant data and plans (available in DWG and DXF format) will be provided, in order to aid you in decision making.

It is advised that a BS5837 survey is carried out prior to any development design, as the presence of trees on a site can cause constraints for the design.

Inspections for Bats in Trees
AV Arboriculture has been trained by Echoes Ecology Ltd in the correct procedures for inspecting trees for bats. We can carry out ground-based 'bat potential' inspections, as well as more thorough ground and aerial inspections of trees using an endoscope.

Our inspections for bats in trees are highly detailed and professional, in preparation for the British Standards Institute’s BS8596 standard that will be introduced over the next couple of years.

We recently carried out inspections of several trees on the route of the new Beauly-Denny high-voltage power-line.