Tree-cutting services

Tender description

This Contract is to be let primarily for the maintenance of the Council’s street trees and trees in parks, cemeteries and open spaces in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The contractor may be offered additional work on other Council owned sites at the Council's discretion. The Contract will run from April 2018 to March 2024 with provision for extending the contract for up to 36 months. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has almost 7000 street trees. Approximately 3000 of these trees are forest canopy species consisting mainly of London plane and lime species. The remainder is a mix of medium-sized trees, such as wild cherry, birch and sweet gum, and various ornamental species. The Borough has data on all street trees, which is kept on our ‘Ezytreev’ database. For maintenance purposes, the Borough is split into three areas, north, central and south. The trees in these areas have historically been inspected and pruned on a three-year rotation. There are no plans to change this cyclical regime for the new Contract. In addition to this, trees on certain streets in the north of the borough, where there is a shrinkable clay subsoil, are inspected and pruned every two years as part of RBKC’s ‘Risk Limitation Strategy.’ Approximately 1000 street trees are pruned on a two-year rotation. RBKC plants approximately 150 street trees per annum. The majority of which are 12-14 cm girth containerised nursery stock. RBKC has approximate 3100 trees in parks, cemeteries and open spaces. Parks trees have historically been managed by the Parks Dept. However, responsibility for these trees was passed to RBKC’s Arboricultural Section in August 2016. The tree stock is spread across 38 different sites.