Insights · Victoria
Field notes on trees, planning and the standards.
Short, practical pieces on how the arboricultural standards apply on real sites: what AS 4970:2025 changed, how a Council reads a tree protection plan, and what the evidence shows on common problems. Written for Councils, developers and the arborists who review the work.
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Insights
Technical pieces on the standards and the evidence behind everyday arboricultural work. New insights added regularly.
Tree protection is boring: directional drilling and NDD in the tree protection zone
When a service has to cross a tree's root zone, boring under it beats trenching through it. AS 4970:2025 now says so. The method, and its limits.
Read the article → Project reviewUplighting Frankston's Nepean Highway median trees without trenching the root zones
Frankston City Council wanted in-ground uplighting for the significant trees down the Nepean Highway median. We got it in without trenching a root zone.
Read the article → Standards & regulationClause 52.37 didn't switch off the overlays: how the tree controls now stack
Clause 52.37 didn't simplify tree controls in Victoria. It added one. On a site with an overlay, you now have two permit regimes on the same tree.
Read the article → Standards & regulationClause 52.37 Canopy Trees: what it actually weighs, and where applications come unstuck
Clause 52.37 created a permit trigger for canopy trees in residential zones. What Council can actually weigh, and where applications come unstuck.
Read the article → Standards & regulationAS 4970:2025: what changed, and what your arborist's report should now show
AS 4970:2025 replaced the 2009 edition. What actually changed, and what a report prepared to the new standard should show.
Read the article → Technical practiceConstruction compaction and tree decline: what the evidence shows
Compaction reduces root growth and can drive tree decline, but the severity depends on degree, duration and species.
Read the article → Standards & regulationTPZ and NRZ under AS 4970:2025: what changed, what didn't
AS 4970:2025 introduced the Notional Root Zone but did not retire the Tree Protection Zone. Both are current, and they do different jobs.
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