Multi-Site School Tree Survey — Eight School Estate, Tameside, Greater Manchester
Client: A property management company acting as managing agent for a portfolio of schools across Tameside
Project Overview: The managing agent required tree health and safety assessments across an eight-site school estate in Tameside — over 1,000 trees in total — delivered as a single consistent programme rather than eight separate surveys, so the portfolio could be compared, prioritised and budgeted as a whole.
Our Role: Urban Tree Management NW Ltd carried out a Level 2 detailed ground-level Visual Tree Assessment on every tree across all eight sites, escalating to Quantified Tree Risk Assessment under QTRA V5.4 (GB) 2026 only where the visual assessment triggered it. Site sizes ranged from 87 items on a typical mid-sized campus to 215 individual trees plus six groups on the largest.
Findings & Recommendations:
- Ash dieback confirmed at Class 1, including trees within falling distance of adopted public footpaths
- A substantial tree group overhanging a school access road identified as third-party ownership, with notification steps set out
- Repeated strimmer and mower damage to mature stem bases recorded as a grounds maintenance management issue
- Establishment failure identified across recently planted landscape stock
- Bacterial stem lesion photographed as a baseline for re-measurement
- Zero trees requiring works within 24 hours across the sites completed to date
- Reinspection set at 12–15 months rather than the 24-month institutional default, justified in writing
Outcome: .The managing agent received a complete, defensible tree safety dataset across the whole estate — per-site reports, A3 survey schedules, GPS location plans, prioritised works schedules and a justified reinspection programme — all to one methodology and one reporting format, so the portfolio reads as a single body of evidence for governors, insurers and the local authority.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do schools legally need tree surveys?
Schools and their managing agents owe a duty of care under the Occupiers' Liability Acts 1957 and 1984 to take reasonable steps to manage foreseeable risk from trees. Regular, proportionate inspection recorded in writing is the recognised way to demonstrate that duty has been met.
How often should school trees be inspected?
There is no fixed statutory interval. It is a professional judgement based on the condition of the trees, the level of access around them, and the presence of progressive conditions such as ash dieback. Institutional estates commonly sit at 24 months; on this estate the interval was set at 12 to 15 months and justified in writing.
What is the difference between VTA and QTRA?
Visual Tree Assessment is the systematic ground-level inspection that identifies defects and condition. Quantified Tree Risk Assessment quantifies the risk a specific tree poses to a specific target. QTRA is applied in addition to VTA where the visual assessment triggers it, never as a replacement for it.
Can you survey multiple school sites under one instruction?
Yes. We deliver multi-site programmes to a single consistent methodology and reporting format, with per-site reports and data that can be read across the whole portfolio.
What happens if a tree is not owned by the school?
Recommendations cannot be made for trees outside the client's control. We identify ownership, and set out the notification steps required to raise the matter with the third-party owner.
Does ash dieback mean the tree has to be felled?
Not necessarily. Ash dieback is assessed on a four-class scale, and trees in the earlier classes can often be retained and monitored, particularly away from targets. Trees within falling distance of a highway, footpath, or occupied area are assessed differently because the consequences of failure are greater.
Why It Matters for Multi-Site Estates
Surveying eight sites is not eight times surveying one site. The difficulty is consistency — same methodology, same categorisation, same reference conventions, same reporting format, so the portfolio can be read as a whole. Get that wrong and the client is left with eight documents that cannot be compared, prioritised, or budgeted against.
Urban Tree Management NW Ltd is a consultancy only. We do not carry out tree works and have no financial interest in the works we specify, so the recommendations reflect what genuinely reduces risk — which protects the client's budget as well as its duty of care.
