TEP’s arboriculturists have again proved that utilising technology in the conservation of trees is the way forward. Our 3D tree surveys have helped the University of Sussex gain planning approval for 1,000 new student rooms at their Falmer campus, near Brighton.
TEP have been supporting Balfour Beatty and the University of Sussex on their West Slope residences project since 2019. We were commissioned to undertake an initial site appraisal to inform a proposal seeking to double the amount of student accommodation on the West Slope site, whilst providing new community facilities and open green space for all students.
Our arboriculturists have since been working with Grant Associates and Balfour Beatty as part of the project design team, to help avoid or minimise adverse effects on valuable trees. The culmination was the production of an Arboricultural Impact Assessment and Method Statement in support of full planning.
The site contains many mature trees and a challenging site level profile, which needed careful consideration as part of the design process. Therefore, in addition to the conventional 2D CAD plans mapping existing trees, TEP also modelled the treescape in 3D using Revit, which fed into the wider project Building Information Modelling (BIM) process. This allows enhanced visualisation of how existing trees will interact with proposed buildings and infrastructure, a process that has proved invaluable in ensuring the oldest beech trees on the West Slope and all of the existing woodland can be appropriately incorporated into the scheme.
Our input into the planning application helped secure unanimous approval for the project, as well as protecting the valuable trees within the site.
This is one of several schemes for university halls of residence that TEP has supported in recent years, with other examples including Keele University, Staffordshire University and the University of Warwick in the West Midlands.
To read more articles from TEP’s Arboriculture Team, follow the link below:
https://www.tep.uk.com/category/arboriculture/
