Nicholas J Rivett

Selected by the Fellows of the Institute as the:

2015 Fellow of the Australian Institute of Horticulture

2017 winner of the “National Urban Green Space Award”

PERSONAL DETAILS:             

Born 5 March, 1947, Toorak, Victoria.

EDUCATION:                

1964 – 1969     Completed Diploma of Horticulture at Burnley Horticultural College, Victoria.  [Dip. Hort. (Burn.)]

1973 – 1974     Completed Certificate of Arboriculture – Pass with Credit at Merrist Wood Agricultural College, Surrey, England.  [Cert. Arb. (Eng.)]

1974                 Royal Forestry Service Certificate of Arboriculture (England). [R.F.S. Cert. Arb. (Eng.)]

BUSINESS:

Commenced:  1969 – Present

Self Employed under company structure currently working in the following fields:

  • Forensic Arboriculture – Assesment of tree health and condition within urban context, netgain assessment and offset requirements for land development projects, VCAT and Court appearances on tree related matters, implementation of Arboricultural remedial treatment works,
  • Arboricultural advice to Developers, Engineers, Architects and Landscape Architect on design implications on retained or future proposed plantings – Overseeing Tree Protection Zones during construction period.
  • Landscape Design – Working on residential, commercial, community housing and rural property projects.
  • Landscape construction supervision – Overseeing the implementation of hard and soft landscape works as per the required specifications.
  • Wholesale Production Nursery – Managing an advanced tree and production nursery using Air Root Pruning containerised production incorporation direct seeding into production cells within an innovative production process incorporating flood and drain irrigation.
  • Plant Procurement and Quality Control – Procurement or Inspection of a wide range of plant material from various grower to confirm quality of root system and crown and true to type.
  • Equipment and Machinery design and Development – Continued development of new and innovative machines, equipment and tools for the horticultural industry.

Businesses:                  

Rivett’s Advanced Tree Nursery: – Producing advanced native and exotic using Air Root Pruning Pots.  Direct seeded Native plants for sound healthy root systems.

Coordinated Plant Supplies: – Plant brokerage business organizing and consolidating quality plants from various selected growers to meet customers needs.

A Principal Consultant of NJR & Associates: – Working in the field of Forensic Arboriculture, Landscape and Roof Garden Design and Horticultural Project management.

EDUCATIONAL SERVICES DELIVERED:

Arboricultural Education:

Convened and ran the first Arboricultural 3 day workshops in Australia.  Providing hands on experience in identifying internal disorders from external manifestations.

Guest lecturer at:

  • Merrist Wood College Surrey England and
  • Burnley College Melbourne,
  • North Melbourne College of TAFE.
  • Guest speaker at International Horticultural Congress

Communication:           

Educational interface between scientists and practitioners.  Involved in formal and informal information and training programs, and media work and Public Speaking.  In diverse areas from tree root systems to developing children through playground design, “Children’s playground design is not child’s play”

Seminars & Conferences:

Organised and conducted a large number of local, national and international seminars in the field of arboriculture with eminent scientists such as Dr Alex Shigo (3 national Australian lecture tours and 2 tours in the UK), Dr Terry Tatter and other specialists in the field of root control systems and tree nutrition, advanced Arboricultural practices and tree management.

  • Guest Speaker at International Tree Conferences in Australia and Europe.  Recent:  Italy 2012 – Management of Monumental Trees,
  • MCC Canopy Meeting December 2017 lecture on Intensive Green Roof design from the roots up,
  • Irrigation Australia – Green Roof Irrigation Challenges May 2018

PUBLICATIONS:           

  • Trees and Their Environment – Books 1 and 2.
  • Branch Attachment – How Branches are Connected to Trees.
  • Compartmentalisation Of Decay In Trees – Good and Bad News.
  • Green Leaves Does Not Mean Carbohydrate Production – To Die Green.
  • Included Bark – Structurally Poor Unions Destined to Fail but When?
  • Managing The Supply And Demand Of Energy – Decline or Die Back.
  • Roots are the brains of the tree – The Drive the Life or Death Process.
  • Sudden Limb Drop – Nothing’s Ever Sudden In Trees.
  • Tree Age – A Dog’s Life Calculation.  10:1 Human to Tree Years.

TRAVEL:                       

Extensive regular travel to U.S.A., Great Britain and Denmark to study and liaise with leading Horticulturalists and investigating new Arboricultural practices and equipment.

MEDIA WORK:              

  • Contributions to magazines such as “Your Garden”, “Australian Horticulture”.
  • Radio:  Muriel Cooper, 3AW, 774 Local ABC, 3WV, Radio Australia and others.
  • Television:  Various items of news and documentaries.

MEMBERSHIP: 

  • Fellow of the Australian Institute of Horticulture (Professional Body).  Past Victorian Chapter President and National Council Rep.
  • AIH. Registered Horticulturalist No 35
  • Member International Plant Propagator Society
  • Member International Society of Arboriculture (U.S.A.)
  • Member of Arboricultural Association (U.K.)
  • Member of the Organic Recycling Group – Compost Victoria.
  • Member of the Phillip Island Conservation Society
  • Member of Phillip Island Landcare
  • Member Bass River Environmental Flow Study Consultative Committee

CLIENT BASE:              

  • Water Authorities: South East, Western, and Yarra Valley.
  • Various Town Planners, Engineers and Surveyors.
  • Major Legal Practices in Melbourne
  • Many City and Shire Councils
  • Extensive Consulting to Development and Building Industry
  • Brotherhood of St Laurence & MacKillop Family Services
  • Far East Consortium – Property Developers.
  • Large Domestic Client Base, Architects and Commercial.

SUBSCRIPTIONS:        

  • Australian Horticulture
  • The New Scientist
  • Waste Management and Environment

PATENTS, REGISTERED DESIGNS AND PROCESS INVENTIONS:       

  • Developed and patented two industrial patents for wood chipping machinery, Pozy-feed disc and Leg Controlled Lift Bar.
  • Developed, and distributed a fungistatic tree wound sealant.
  • Designed and developed a number of Machines and Tools
  • Designed and Built Palm Trunk Grinder for Malaysian Palm Oil Industry.
  • Design, develop and distribute Stump-Eraza stump grinding machine.
  • Organic and Inorganic capture of dissolved and suspended solids from within a water column.  Utility; for incorporation of Sewage, Storm waters with Putrescible Waste streams form Industry or Community generation of energy and elevation of low nutrient grade organics into beneficial fertilisers or the capture and recycling of metal contaminants.  Utilisation:  Large or small scale community sewage systems, Palm Oil mill nutrient capture from process water and return to potable quality, Decontamination of industrially polluted water and recovery of metal pollutants.

Outline of some of the Past and Current Projects.

FORENSIC ARBORICULTURE PRACTICE.

If you speak tree, they will tell you what is problem is, so you can help it prosper again or remove them before people or property are damaged.  Two of the things you should know about trees.

Tree’s NEVER SUDDENLY do anything it is ALWAYS the result of a long slow progression LEADING to an inevitable outcome.

and

THE ONLY WAY A TREE DIES IS THROUGH STARVATION

LANDSCAPE DESIGN PROJECTS.

Residential

Commercial

INTENSIVE ROOF GARDEN UWS SKY PARK & GARDENS.

2017 winner of the “National Urban Green Space Award”

A project is my one (1) acre Sky Park and Gardens being constructed on the 5th and 6th levelof the UWS project the corner of Lonsdale and Spencer St. Melbourne.  A project commenced in 2011 and Completed in 2017. 

The one Acre “Sky Park and Gardens” is located on the 5th and 6th floor of Far East Consortium’s Upper West Side Development.  The “Garden Oasis” in the heart of Melbourne for the some 4,000 plus residents that occupy the four (4) towers.  The gardens provide not only a connection to nature, but also to provide food resources, such as herbs, edible plants and fruits.  The garden contains some 232 species of plants and 25 environmental conditions.

The garden is designed to provide such environmental benefits as:

  • Greenhouse gas sequestration,
  • City Island cooling,
  • Minimal potable water demand,
  • Recreational facilities on site,
  • Community meeting spaces,
  • Fitness and wellbeing,
  • Seasonal Planting,
  • Edibles.

THE NURSERY

ROOTS ON PLANTS IS THE ESSENCE OF A PLANT NURSERY.

It’s all about the roots, the plant’s brain, get them correct and the crown will follow.

All our Australian Native trees are direct sown into these S1020 Rocket Pots.  The pot is 200 mm high and offers full 3 D air root pruning.

Note the height of the seedling is 100mm tall but its root are 200mm deep.  This is the size that they should be planted into the landscape or grown on in larger ARP containers.

S1020 pots are also used to grow out struck cuttings before they are potted on into larger ARP containers.

All plants are inoculated with beneficial microflora.

SELLING TIME TO THE TIME POOR.

Provided advanced trees have quality root systems they offer a customer a time line saving.  In the UWS Sky Park and Gardens we provided a 25 year old Pencil Pine at 6 m high.  These are some sample pictures of advanced trees at our Nursery.

SOME TIMES WE ARE CALLED ON TO RELOCATE VALUABLE TREES.

Aldi Flame Tree Move 2014