Sharon Durdant-Hollamby FICFor is Director of Sharon Hosegood Associates, a Vice-President of the Institute of Chartered Foresters, a Chartered Arboriculturist and Expert Witness. To many who’ve read or watched her work in the media, she is perhaps better known as the Tree Lady. She has a lifelong passion for arboriculture and the interaction between trees and their local community. This passion extends to her frequent organising and championing of community projects – examples include schoolchildren visiting newly redeveloped areas to plant new trees, and make carvings from felled ones.

After graduating in Geography from the University of Southampton, Durdant-Hollamby worked in local government as a Tree Officer before moving into consultancy. Her first major environmental consultancy was based in Essex. In her seven years there as Managing Director, she grew a twenty-strong arboricultural and environmental team. In 2015, she formed her own company, Sharon Hosegood Associates – Hosegood being her maiden name. Through her company, she has been able to channel her deeply-held interest in trees and take it to the next level.

Durdant-Hollamby is also interested in ground-truthing, and a keen user and advocate of Tree Radar, a specialist tool that allows users to map tree roots without disturbing the surrounding soil. A frequent conference presenter and trainer for Trevor Roberts Associates, the UK’s largest Planning and Design training and workshop provider, she is also a board member of and a regular contributor to the International Arboricultural Summit in Hong Kong.