Wheatley - Viaduct
Remove early mature Sycamore Trees (Acer Pseudoplatanus) from encroaching and making contact with the viaduct structure and prune selected limbs.Remove a willow tree from the Bridge deck. Ensure the safety of bridge monitoring systems attached to the viaduct during the dismantling and felling operations. Work alongside a team carrying out bridge repairs using Rope Access, preventing any conflicting work that may impact both work parties.
Action Taken
Communication was established with an existing Rope Access team to establish our work areas and exclusion zones, this ensured there were no potentially conflicting activities.
The larger Sycamore trees were dismantled using a combination of rope access and tree climbing techniques.
Care had to be taken due to one of the larger Sycamores that had grown up against the external parapet wall, ensuring that it could be safely felled away from the structure without causing damage to the stone work.
To mitigate damage to the structure a winch was used to pull the top of the tree and ensure it was ‘free’ from the structure before it could be felled.
The tree was under significant tension due to growing against the parapet wall and was felled using a bore cut to set the hinge and remove a substantial amount of holding wood. This prevented the tree from snapping uncontrollably, potentially injuring the operative felling it.
Timber was cut into lengths and made safe before being placed into habitat piles and the site was handed back to the client.
