Staff Profiles

Beginning in 1978, Mark’s career in arboriculture spans 37 years of experience as a contractor, local authority tree officer and arboricultural consultant. In 2009, he was accepted as a Registered Consultant of the Arboricultural Association, the premier accreditation for practitioners within the arboricultural profession.

From 1985 to 2001, he was arboricultural and landscape officer for two large local authorities, and gained experience both in managing large highway tree populations, parks and council-owned trees and woodlands, and in the operation of tree controls and tree-related issues at all levels within the planning system, from householder applications to major transport infrastructure projects. These included the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (HS1), where he successfully secured significant changes to the proposed route to reduce its landscape impacts.

During this period, he was also Chairman of the Arboricultural Association’s Education Committee and served on its Executive Council, as well as being an examiner and assessor for the Technician’s Certificate in Arboriculture from 1993 to 1999. He has contributed to many government consultations on the operation of the TPO system, and to the development of British Standards relating to tree care on development sites.     

Since moving into private practice in 2001, Mark has been involved in a wide spectrum of projects, acting on behalf of clients ranging from private individuals to major national housebuilders and minerals companies on development and planning-related matters, frequently relating to issues affecting ancient woodland, as well as tree hazard and risk assessments, tree accident investigations, tree and woodland management plans, ancient and veteran tree management, and many others.

Mark has extensive experience of preparing and giving expert evidence in Public Inquiries and in Court, including the Magistrates’ and High Courts, and has previously given evidence before Select Committees of both Houses of Parliament on arboricultural and landscape matters. He holds the Cardiff University & Bond Solon Civil Expert Witness Certificate, and is a member of the Expert Witness Institute.

• Arboricultural Association Registered Consultant
• Fellow of the Arboricultural Association
• Member of the Expert Witness Institute
• Associate Member of the Institute of Leadership and Management
• Cardiff University & Bond Solon Civil Expert Witness Certificate
• M.Sc. in Landscape Ecology, Design and Maintenance
• LANTRA Certificate in Professional Tree Inspection
• BA (Cantab.) Modern and Medieval Languages

mark@davidarcherassociates.co.uk

Tel: 07761 826237

Emily joined the team in October 2018 to help support the growing ecology department, at which point she had over six years’ experience working within the ecology sector. Emily has worked both as a consultant and a Wildlife Advisor within Natural England, which has allowed her to support projects through both planning and the licencing process. Emily’s experience in assessing badger, dormouse and bat mitigation licences brings a useful insight to mitigation licence applications.

Emily has managed both small and medium scale residential developments and has been involved in some more unusual projects including a winter water storage system and reservoir. Emily has survey experience in a range of species, specialises in bats and has a keen interest in botany.

Emily holds licences for great crested newts, bats and dormice and is a Named Ecologist on Natural England bat mitigation licences. In addition to her work, Emily is actively involved with a number of local conservation groups and provides support to local residents with roosting bats.

• Full member of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management
• BSc (Hons) Zoology, first class
• Natural England class licences for: bats (level 2), great crested newts (level 1) and hazel dormice (level 1)
• Natural England Volunteer Bat Roost Visitor
• Member and surveyor with the Kent Bat Group

emily@davidarcherassociates.co.uk

Tel: 07542 528120

Greg is an arboriculturalist with more than ten years of experience. He began his career working as an arborist including time spent working in New Zealand which rubbed off on Greg kindling his interest and appreciation for the exotic, plants and trees native to Australasia and the southern hemisphere. 

Greg has extensive experience of managing large tree populations having worked for two local authorities as a tree officer. He is experienced in the inspection and hazard assessment of trees and has been successful at implementing electronic tree management databases. 

Greg has experience of managing woodland and has implemented a UK Forestry Standard management plan for a Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG) woodland site. 

Having worked with a local authority Planning department Greg was able to expand on his experience of providing representations for Tree Preservation Order, conservation and development proposal applications. This afforded Greg the opportunity to influence major infrastructure projects through the appraisal and mitigation of the impacts of proposed development on trees including the development of Forge Wood, a new neighbourhood located in Crawley, and the development of a Network Rail operating centre and depot facilities for the Thameslink rolling stock programme at Three Bridges train station, Crawley.

• ABC level 4 Diploma in Arboriculture
• LANTRA Certificate in Professional Tree Inspection
• Member of the Arboricultural Association
• Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Foresters
• Member of the Australasian plant society

greg@davidarcherassociates.co.uk

Tel: 07783 005828

Toby joined DAA in April 2019 having accumulated 8 years of experience in ecology surveying and Ecological Clerk of Works (ECoW) with both small and large projects across south-east England.

Before joining DAA, Toby was working freelance for us and a variety of large and small consultancies; it was only after his extensive ECoW role on behalf of DAA for the construction phase of the Richborough Connection Project (an ambitious scheme and first of its kind for over 30 years in the UK, involving the installation of 60 new pylons throughout 2018 between Canterbury and Sandwich, Kent) that we convinced him to join us on a permanent basis.

Toby has also been named as accredited agent on many mitigation and development licences across a wide species range and has experience with closing badger setts, translocations, design and building of reptile hibernacula and many surveying hours of protected species.

Toby is also responsible for keeping us up-to-date with survey equipment and technology, including leading on the company’s implementation and continuing use of the latest infra-red technology to aid our nocturnal bat surveys.

Caitlin joined the team in January of 2022 following the completion of both her undergraduate and masters degrees in Environmental Sciences from the University of East Anglia. 

She gained bat surveying experience whilst volunteering across the Knepp Estate, and spent the summer assisting the site Ecologist with vegetation surveys and river flow monitoring. Caitlin is eager to begin working towards holding Natural England survey licences and gaining experience working in a consultancy role. 

• MSc Environmental Sciences with a focus on avian population change across Europe through soundscape statistics
• BSc Environmental Sciences with a focus on pollinator diversity as a result of plant community structure
• Volunteer at the Knepp Wilding Estate

caitlin@davidarcherassociates.co.uk

Tel: 07935 899129