Dartford: Cliff stabilisation enabling works
Vegetation management for soil nailing and meshing of a chalk outcrop adjacent to London road. Arb Access were tasked to remove early mature Holm oak trees (Quercus ilex) from an outcrop of chalk approximately 150m long x 15m high. We also dismantled trees at the cliff in order to allow access for plant and machinery.
Action Taken
We used a combination of Industrial Rope Access and tree climbing techniques to enable us to safely carry out this work scope within schedule and without incident.
On this project we worked closely with ecologists to identify potentially nesting birds and other habitats.
Under the supervision of ecologists, we climbed trees to facilitate video endoscope works in order to investigate trees that potentially provided habitat for bats.
Due to the presence of some nesting birds and bat activity some trees were given protection, and others were removed at a later date by Arb Access once the nests were deemed inactive by ecologists.
Once the trees had been felled / dismantled and vegetation had been removed, the cliff was scaled as we progressed down the chalk outcrop to remove any loose areas of rock that could potentially fall or collapse onto the workforce below.
