These grand old dames were planted when the old university was first built and range in age from 20 through to 80 years of age.  The trees play host to a variety of wildlife including masked eagles and frogmouth owls.

From the development’s inception, one of the key objectives has been to maintain the leafy, established feel of the estate.  For the life of the project, qualified arboriculturalists have been engaged to identify the trees in the area and assess each tree based on the health, structure and habitat value.  Approximately 900 trees have been audited to date and preventative measures put in place to minimise damage and disturbance to the trees during construction.  Retention of the trees is the key objective and their removal is avoided where possible. 

When the landscaped areas including the street trees are handed over to the City of Stirling, the City’s stringent watering regime will be applied to the development.  To ensure that the trees on the estate are prepared, a ‘hardening’ process is planned where the watering regime is gradually reduced to encourage the trees to tap into groundwater instead of relying on irrigation.  The transition phase may mean that the trees will look a little tired and thirsty when they first establish self-sufficiency, but this stage should not last long.

The development’s arboriculturalists have undertaken a tree risk assessment to identify trees on the estate that have disease or termites, or trees that are a public safety hazard.  A tree maintenance programme, overseen by Mat Shaw, is currently underway to act on the arboriculturalists recommendations, including the removal of dead wood.