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Owners of both large (and small!) tree populations have a duty of care to assess the health and safety of any trees on their property and what effect that may have on users of their own land but also third party property including public roads.

PLS Group UK began life as Powerline Surveying LTD and as such we have a great depth of experience in vegetation surveys in the vicinity of overhead lines and equipment. In addition to this we are also experienced in providing visual tree health surveys using our professional tree inspector and level 4 arb diploma certified surveyors.

Two of  PLS Group UK's surveyors were recently asked by one of our regular clients to carry out a survey of roadside trees on a large private estate in the north of England to assess the general health and stuctural condition of trees adjacent to all of the public roads within the estate boundry. All trees thatwere found to be a potential safety hazard were tagged with a small numbered plate. All relevent data was then gathered electronically which included any work or further detailed inspection that may be required. One of the stark realities of the survey was the prevelance of Ash trees affected by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, more commonly refered to as Ash die back. This fungus is currently threatening the whole of the UK's Ash population which WILL have a devisatating effect on both ecology and safety!! 

Our surveyors are easily able to adapt to any system used to collect survey data in this case using a mobile device field collector app. Close contact was maintained with the client during the survey and as usual the project was carried out efficiently, within the projected timescale.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any arboricultural or utility infrastructure survey requirements. 

Being vegetation management experts, PLS group UK carry out tree work for a variety of different clients. This can be felling and removing trees on big sites using large plant and machinery to working from a rope and harness in difficult access situations.

Being able to respond to a clients request at short notice is also a speciality of ours. During the winter storms during the early part of 2022, PLS were contacted by one of their long term clients to be on call to clear fallen trees on a stretch of Network rail line running across Kent in the south east.

Within a days’ notice a team was gathered together with all the necessary equipment and we were on our way from our North Yorkshire base to the south east of England, to carry out the work over the weekend.

Accessing railway sites can be difficult at the best of times, usually having to cross farmland or access from specific approved access points, often a long way from the work area. This time it was different! Our mode of transport to site would be an actual network rail locomotive!!! This meant the team could be delivered to exactly where the fallen trees and branches would be with the ability to cover a large area very quickly.

As always, our team conducted themselves with their usual professionalism liaising with both the client and network rail staff to ensure the job was completed and the line could be reopened for passenger traffic as quickly as possible. Another example of PLS group adapting to get the job done.

We can provide a solution to any difficult job and work tirelessly to provide a quick response to our clients in an emergency.

Tree removal project for a long term client, this time in Buckinghamshire in the south of England.

After thorough ecological checks prior to starting the project involved removal of a large area of trees along with the roots to prepare the site for construction work.

The limited timescale of five days required the use of large plant to ensure the deadline would be achieved. Using our tree felling expertise and our experienced machine operators utilised both 8 and 13 tonne grapple equipped excavators along with a large, self-propelled chipper to chip all but the largest of logs. Mechanisation means that less men are required and a high level of safety with one of the excavator drivers effectively able to carry out two tasks when feeding the remotely controlled chipper!

PLS Group UK worked with the clients site managers to ensure safe operations, particularly with an open bridleway running through the centre of the site.

PLS utilise intercom systems installed within their saftey helmets allowing communication between both the chainsaw and machine operators along with site supervisors and banksmen. By having these systems it’s like an extra set of eyes and ears on a loud and busy site and allows the work method to delivered in a safe and efficient manner.

Brash was chipped into piles across the site to allow for the removal of the remaining tree roots. This chip then graded out in situ and the roots removed for disposal as green waste.

Once again PLS delivered the job safely, on time and within budget. The short , five day timescale was no problem and our team were parking the machines up ready for collection at 2pm on the Friday!!

PLS Group UK are experts in all types of fencing from stock net, post and rail and palisade. This project was one of our simpler ones.

This fencing project was carried out in tandem with our ongoing vegetation works for a civil engineering client in Lincolnshire.

The client required a boundry fence to demarcate their area of operations and allow the adjacent farmland to still be used. This was to be achieved through the installation of wooden posts and twin blue line.

For this we used our purpose built post knocker. This self contained unit not only drives the posts into the ground but also carriers all the required materials and tools for the job. The ground was extremly hard which could have meant a lot snapped posts!

Rock spike to the rescue!! This attachment allows to create a pilot hole by breaking through the hard surface soil. Snapped posts proved to be few and far between with no additional materials required to complete the job.

Another happy client and another project delivered on time! 

PLS Group UK were contacted by a long term client to remove hedges and trees at multiple sites to facilitate site preperation and machine access for a major civil engineering company. 

It is a long term project that involves the installation of a water pipeline over a long stretch of the country side, bringing fresh water to the driest areas of Lincolnshire and east Anglia.

On this phase of works, the sites were spread across farmland, road and rail crossings over a 50 km stretch across the Lincolnshire countryside. PLS Group UK utilized the experience of our highly experienced tree clearance teams and machine operators.

Using smaller plant in this situation was an advantage where some of the sites would have proved difficult to access with larger machinery. Using one of our 2.5 tonne Bobcat E26 excavators with grab took all the hard work out of moving the timber and brash eliminating the need for the team to manually handle heavy pieces of timber and particularly thorny hawthorn branches (much to relief of our chainsaw operators)!! This not only increases efficiency but more importantly safety.

As always, PLS delivered on time and are ready and raring to go for the next phase of works!