The Arboricultural Association is delighted to congratulate its latest Registered Consultant, Steve Cox.
Steve is the principal consultant with Treecall Consulting Ltd and has 40 years’ experience within the arboriculture and forestry industries.
He said:
“I began my tree career working as a tree surgeon for Honey Brothers in Guildford before attending Merrist Wood College (1979–82) to gain the OND in arboriculture. I moved to Aberdeen University to study forestry in 1986 and then worked in the Republic of Cameroon for a year on a rainforest conservation project. I came back to the UK in 1991 to earn a master’s degree in land use at Oxford University then spent two and a half years as a forestry manager on a fast-growing tropical hardwood project in the Solomon Islands.
“My family relocated back to the UK in 1995 and I worked as an arboricultural officer for the Borough of Poole, in Dorset, where I was leader of its arboricultural team for five years. During this time the council funded my studies to earn the Professional Diploma in Arboriculture.
“In 2003 my wife and I started Treecall Consulting which provides arboricultural consultancy services. The company is now in its fifteenth year with six employees.
“It was always an objective, when I started Treecall Consulting, to become a registered consultant with the AA. I aimed to be up there with the best arboricultural practitioners in the country. There is no point in being halfhearted in setting targets or in building a mediocre business. But I wasn’t ready when I first launched out as a consultant. Colleagues within the profession have given much help and advice on this journey. I like a challenge, and the selection process for the Registered Consultant list definitely provided that. There is no substitute for getting in-depth feedback on your work – it is “gold-dust”. While I think my reports have always been written to a high standard, to have this input has significantly improved their quality and I’m proud to have reached this stage in my career.”