In January 2005, I set up a company, providing arboricultural and ecological consultancy, having spent my years prior to this working as a tree surgeon. Then as now, we focus on providing you with unsurpassed customer service, ruthless attention to detail, and speed. Those first four or five years were a real slog, to be honest. Eventually, though, my efforts started to pay off. Either that or I just spent those early years learning my fair share of life’s lessons the hard way!
Today, I am managing director of (by any objective measure) the foremost independently-owned ecological consultancy in the UK: Arbtech. Last year, over 3,000 people just like you trusted Arbtech to take complete ownership of their tree, ecology and protected species issues at their site. The number of planning refusals on the basis of our advice? The number of EPS licences we applied for that were refused? Combined, the answer is zero.
What do I do all day?
Read, mostly.
More about Rob
I am a former Army reserve infantry solider with 4th Battalion The Mercian Regiment, a powerlifting and fitness maniac*, and a long-suffering student of Spanish and Portuguese. I enjoy reading about everything biology, psychology, and economics. I’ve probably averaged about a book a week since my early twenties. Since graduating from university the first time (arboriculture), I’ve since been back several times: I have an MBA (Durham) and MSc Psychology (Liverpool). This year, I begin my third masters. In the meantime, I’ve also put myself through a fair bit of executive education, including the leadership program (Oxford).
* I’ve spent about two decades getting absurdly strong. These days my ‘party trick’ is that I can walk into B&Q, take a 6″ steel galvanised nail off the shelf and bend it in half with my bare hands.
In the winter I snowboard, and in the summer I can be found doing practically any sport or activity that involves being outside in the sun! I’ve always been a competitor rather than a spectator, so to round things off, five years after taking it up, I now compete at world-level in Brazilian jiu-jitsu; with my recent highlights including superheavyweight and absolute division gold medals at the European Masters, Spanish Nationals, and variously in Paris, Zurich, Rome, Madrid and London, among many others. I’ve competed at the Worlds in Las Vegas twice now, and lost in the quarter-finals to a referee’s decision both times. I summited Mont Blanc–the first step of many on my quest for an 8,000m peak. For personal interest, I also have a laundry list of qualifications in the fitness and nutrition domains, so don’t get me started talking about diet or exercise!
Rob has been at the helm of Arbtech since 17 January 2005: 16 years.
What Makes Arbtech Different?
We are one of the very few consultancies to have a strongly differentiated offering: Unlike most of our ‘we’ll do anything as long as you’re paying us’, competitors we only undertake planning-related tree and ecology surveys; assuring you of our commitment to providing an unmatched depth of planning-related expertise, faster, and at the lowest possible cost. You can find out more about us here.
