Root Protection

O’Brien Horticulture Professional Tree Care & Landscape can erect Protective Fencing around trees that are to be retained on-site, in accordance with Industry Best Practice (BS 5837) to ensure that there is no change to soil levels, contamination of soil, or any compaction of soil within the root zones. The protection of the Root Systems will ensure that the retained trees will continue to be healthy for many years after the site works have been completed.

There is no point in retaining Mature Trees on a construction site if the Root Systems are not protected from damage, as this will inevitably lead to the Trees Dying Back and becoming Hazardous, ultimately requiring their removal at considerable additional cost and loss of visual amenity.

Survival of a tree depends (in part) on its roots being able to absorb enough water from the soil to sustain the foliage. Large mature trees within a site will have grown with a delicate balance of soil moisture, aeration and nutrients. If any of these are disturbed the health of the trees will be adversely affected. Soil compaction, excavations and soil level increases will all damage roots and the closer to the trunk they occur the greater the damage inflicted on the trees (Arboricultural Advisory and Information Service (AAIS), Arboricultural Practice Note 12). The minimum area of roots around a tree that should be undisturbed is calculated as the equivalent of a circle with a radius which is 12x the diameter of the tree's trunk (measured at 1.5m above ground level) within which, any activity that could damage roots should be prohibited (British Standard BS 5837 Trees in Relation to Construction - Recommendations).

O’Brien Horticulture Professional Tree Care & Landscape can specify and install a Tree Root Protection System that provides a flexible and permeable ‘No-Dig solution’ for protecting tree roots, creating a robust and stable platform for constructing permanent vehicular access paths within the root protection area of existing trees.