One of our property developer clients contacted us and instructed us to undertake a decay detection survey at one of their sites in Bradford. The tree in question, a sycamore, had a significant lean towards the existing construction site and many of its newly installed features, such as a dry stone wall, car park and landscaped areas. As such; our client had concerns that should the tree structurally fail, it would cause excessive damage to these features and may also be a risk to public health and safety.
Before carrying out the tests the tree was first visually inspected, both at ground level and from the top of the adjacent dry stone wall. At ground level, a large cavity was found to be present, extending approximately 40% of the circumference of the base. This cavity was found to have the onset of decay, however, the surrounding live tissue appeared to be occluding at the side of the cavity, though due to its size, it was determined that it was unlikely that the cavity will ever fully heal over.
Our consultant concluded that the trees internal heartwood had areas of severe decay and large areas of compromised and denatured wood which made the tree structurally unsound and recommended that it be removed as soon as possible!