Arborists on TV
Extract taken from The Arboricultural Association NEWSLETTER Issue 151 Winter 2010.
David Gregory of Ryland Horticulture Ltd tells how his company stepped into the TV limelight after a call to appear on Channel 4 – and now more than 2 million viewers are much wiser about how to find a properly trained arborist through the AA.
The Channel 4 series Help! My House is Falling Down, presented by Sarah Beeny, helps people who have bought properties with major structural defects. The Ryland team were called in to help Dave Atkins who bought his five-bedroom house in Village Road, Hull for £85,000. He soon discovered major cracks in the Grade II listed building, which was formerly owned by W.D. Priestman, Hull’s oil engine pioneer and inventor.
Mr Atkins, a building contractor, presumed the surrounding mature trees were to blame and approached Hull City Council for advice on their removal. He discovered the trees were protected and didn’t know what to do. In stepped Channel 4. The makers of the series, Red House TV, contacted the relevant professional organisations and sought consultants and contractors willing to undertake the work. As the programme was, in the main, concerned with trees, the Arboricultural Association’s Registered Consultant and Approved Contractor schemes were referenced, and David Evans from the Arbor Centre, Bath, was commissioned to provide a tree inspection as part of the overall structural report undertaken by Craddy Pitchers Davison of Bristol.
One of the recommendations of the report was that five of the trees needed to be removed and Ryland Horticulture Ltd (AAAC since 1989) was invited to undertake the works. The work was filmed over a day during November 2009 with Sarah Beeny and a camera crew on site. The programme, shown on Tuesday 31 August 2010, touched on the subject of trees and subsidence, and the Channel 4 website for the episode has a section on trees and buildings with a link to the AA’s website. A report in the Radio Times also recommended finding a professional via the AA’s website. Various press and media articles have also listed the Arboricultural Association. This is all good news for the general public who barely know the term arborist and often have never heard of the Arboricultural Association.
With a camera crew and Sarah Beeny on the site the risk assessment and method statement for the works and on-site induction, plus some initial training were, to say the least, interesting. The wonders of TV with cutting and pasting took the action bits, and the clearing up and brash dragging went on the cutting room floor!
Ryland Horticulture Ltd.
Arboricultural Association Approved Contractors have appeared on Channel 4 TV’s
‘Help! My House Is Falling Down’ presented by Sarah Beeny.
Ryland Horticulture Ltd., Arboricultural Association Approved Contractors have recently been featured on the channel 4 series ‘Help! My House is Falling Down’ presented by Sarah Beeny. This is a series of programmes where people have purchased properties with major structural defects. On the third programme when Dave Atkin bought his five bedroom house in Village Road, Hull it was for the bargain price of £ 85,000. He soon discovered major cracks appearing in the grade two listed building formerly owned by W.D.Priestman, Hull’s oil engine pioneer and inventor.
Mr Atkins a building contractor, presumed the surrounding mature trees were to blame and approached Hull City Council for advice on their removal. He discovered the trees were protected and didn’t know what to do. In stepped channel 4 with an eye to a new property programme. The makers of the series Red House TV, contacted the relevant professional organisations and sought consultants and contractors willing to undertake the work. As the programme was, in the main, concerned with trees the Arboricultural Association Approved Consultant and Contractors scheme was referenced and David Evans from the Arbor Centre, Bath was commissioned to provide a tree inspection as part of the overall structural report undertaken by Craddy Pitchers Davison of Bristol.
Part of the recommendations of the report were that five of the trees needed removal and Ryland Horticulture Ltd., Arboricultural Approved contractors (since 1989) were invited to undertake the works. The tree works were filmed over a day during November, 2009 with Sarah Beeny and a camera crew on site. The programme shown on Tuesday 31st August, 2010 touched on subjects such as trees and subsidence and the Channel 4 web site for the programme had a section on trees and buildings upon which the Arboricultural Association had a link to its web site. A write up in the radio Times of 21-27th August also recommended finding a professional from the Arboricultural Association web site. Various press and media articles have also listed the Arboricultural Association. All good news for the general public who barely know the term Arborist and often have never heard of the Arboricultural Association.
With a camera crew and Sarah Beeny on the site (seen opposite) the risk assessement and method statement for the works and on site induction plus some initial training were to say the least interesting!
Ryland Horticulture Ltd are NPTC Approved Assessors and Lantra Approved Training Providers, so the initial training/induction was not a problem. The wonders of TV with cutting and pasting took the action bits and the clearing up and brash dragging went on the cutting room floor!
Story courtesy of www.channel4.com/4homes/on-tv/help-my-house-is-falling-down/
Help! My House is Falling Down
Season: 1
Episode: 3
Release: 31 Aug 2010
Due to copyright laws we are unable to show extracted highlights of Ryland's involvement in the making of this film although the episode can be viewed in its entirety on youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV6ozuzYlms Unfortunately we cannot control the opening advertisements but please pay particular attention to minutes 34 - 37.
David. Gregory. F.Arbor A. Ryland Horticulture Ltd. York.