Matthew Shute (M.Arbor.A) is a professional member of the Arboricultural Association. Membership no PR00669.

Professional membership is open to anyone who has at least two years of industry experience at a professional level. Professional members must hold at least a Level 5 qualification in Arboriculture or have demonstrable equivalent experience. As with all Arboricultural memberships, members are bound by the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. It also demonstrates a high level of expertise, capability, integrity and industry awareness.

VETcert is a pan-European certification scheme for veteran tree specialists developed to raise the standard in veteran tree management across Europe. It provides individuals with the opportunity to have their skills and expertise recognised, increasing opportunities for work, both at home and across Europe. It also makes it easier for organisations procuring veteran tree management services to identify and select suitable professionals. Matthew was one of the first contractors to pass the qualification. 

The VETcert certification scheme was developed by an Erasmus+ funded project which ran between 2016 and 2019. The project brought together seven partners from ten European countries, including the UK, Sweden, Belgium, Spain, France, Czech Republic and Germany.

Matthew has specialised in working with ancient and veteran trees for over fifteen years. This qualification has been a great way to demonstrate his knowledge and skills in one of the more specialist fields of Arboriculture. Matthew passed the practising level exam in 2019 and the consulting level exam in 2023. Matthew also works as an examiner for The Arboricultural Association for the practising level qualification.

Being part of the Salus Certification scheme means you are committed to best practice, you are joining an established accreditation body that you can trust and you are being guided and assessed to the very highest standards in the industry.

Matthew is a licensed user of the VALID Tree Risk-Benefit Management and Assessment system.

The VALID system has a full range of easy to understand and common-sense tree risk-benefit management strategies. When a detailed assessment is required, a Tree Risk App is used by our consultants to give a tree risk rating in clear and easy to understand traffic light colour ratings. 

Using this system we can work with duty holders to ensure that they can manage the risks and benefits from their trees effectively.

The Quantified Tree Risk Assessment (QTRA) system applies established and accepted risk management principles to tree safety management. Matthew is a registered user of the Quantified Tree Risk Assessment (QTRA) system.