reimagine the future
the tree
health Centre
specialist education in tree health, pests and diseases
The Tree Health Centre is a new initiative at The Yorkshire Arboretum, Castle Howard, near York. The Yorkshire Arboretum is a 120 acre garden offering a stunning landscape of parkland, lakes and ponds and hosts a collection of 6,000 trees from around the world; built facilities include a playground, café and visitor shop.
The team at the Yorkshire Arboretum have extensive knowledge in managing trees, woodland and the natural environment; they are committed to creating a beautiful place where many species coexist and thrive.
Over recent years there have been some significant epidemics of tree diseases in the UK, examples include Dutch Elm disease, Ash Dieback, Phytophthora Ramorum and Oak Processionary Moth.
The team at the Yorkshire Arboretum recognised that they are in a unique position to establish a purpose-built facility offering specialist training in tree health, pests and diseases. The trust has an experienced in-house team, it has an established network of teachers, trainers and specialists and it has a wealth of natural resources within the parkland for use in live case studies. The trust also has long established links with significant stakeholders both regionally and nationally.
Refined initial ideas against market data and space utilisation models
Prepared detailed business plan and HM Treasury Green Book compliant business case
Secured £286,000 in grant investment from Local Growth Fund, managed by the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding LEP
Mantes were engaged in July 2018 to prepare a master business plan for the project and a funding application to the Local Growth Fund, managed by the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Local Enterprise partnership.
Mantes firstly built an excel model that brought together all of the key assumptions of the project. This was initially built around the course prospectus and all of the variables that informed the space utilisation, sustainability and financial profitability. This model mapped out the annual training calendar, which in turn, informed the profit and loss and the cash flow forecast. The model was used to refine the prospectus, trading assumptions and operational costs to provide a detailed forecast of the centres’ activity and financial journey.
Mantes then worked up a detailed business case for submission to the Local Enterprise Partnership; this was compliant under the UK governments’ Green Book requirements.
The business case addressed all of the key areas comprehensively and the LEP appraisal team commented that it was a particularly noteworthy submission.
The funding application secured £286,000 from the Local Growth Fund towards the project; this was 50% of the eligible net costs, based on QS estimates at the time of the application.
The new facility is due to open in Summer 2021.