Defence teams from Amey and the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) at Royal Military Academy (RMA) Sandhurst showed true collaboration recently when they worked together with the local authority to remove a tree that had fallen during Storm Dennis blocking the main road outside the Academy.
In the early house of Wednesday 19th February, a large horse chestnut tree was uprooted completely blocking the public road and limiting access in and out of the camp. The fallen tree lay near a busy three-lane highway, close to traffic lights and a main junction which affected businesses in a nearby retail park.
As the road sits outside the perimeter of the site, responsibility for removing it lay with the local highway authority, however their contractors were extremely busy with other trees in the area so were unable to schedule a quick removal.
Amey and the DIO sprang into action and quickly organised a site inspection where it was discovered that the centre line of the vertical tree trunk was on MOD property, half of the tree on MOD land and half on highway land. Thanks to the quick decision making of the teams onsite, all parties agreed that Amey were best equipped and would carry out the necessary work to get the road re-opened.
Keeping the highway authority team informed throughout the process, our grounds maintenance contractors, Tivoli Ltd, were quickly on site. They chipped the top of the tree and removed all the wood from site using heavy lifting equipment. The road was soon cleared and following an inspection from the local highway authority was re-opened, much to the relief of local residents and shoppers.
Tim Ashley Smith, DIO Land Management Services, said: “This is a success story that both DIO and Amey should be proud of with excellent collaboration and communication between the two parties.”