Civica’s ArborSafe And Greehill Partner To Advance Urban Forest Management For Councils

Civica and greehill have formed a partnership aimed at helping councils, community estates and private organisations improve the way they manage urban trees, reduce risk and build long-term environmental resilience.

The deal connects Civica’s ArborSafe platform, which is used for asset and tree safety management, with greehill’s AI-powered urban tree management technology. The combined system is designed to give local governments and estate managers a more complete picture of their urban forests, covering canopy health, species distribution, risk exposure and long-term environmental value.

Two platforms, one connected system

ArborSafe is an established compliance and safety management tool used by councils and private organisations to track and manage tree assets. Greehill, meanwhile, specialises in AI and 3D digital-twin technology for urban forestry, using LiDAR-based scanning and high-resolution modelling to build detailed representations of tree populations across entire cities.

The partnership brings the two platforms together into what the companies describe as a seamlessly connected system. The goal is to move councils away from fragmented datasets and toward what the companies call integrated urban forest intelligence.

Adrian Brincat, Governance, Risk and Compliance Lead at Civica APAC, described the partnership as an important step forward in how councils can manage and protect their natural assets.

“By bringing together ArborSafe’s proven compliance and safety capabilities with greehill’s next-generation AI forestry intelligence, we’re equipping councils and private organisations with a far more powerful and complete view of their urban environments,” Brincat explained.

“This will deliver meaningful environmental outcomes while reducing operational risk and improving the liveability of communities.”

Filling the intelligence gap

Peter Sasi, Vice-President Asia Pacific at Greehill, argued that the challenge facing urban forest managers is not a shortage of raw data but rather a lack of usable intelligence.

“Greehill addresses this by providing a consistent, scalable understanding of urban forests across entire cities,” Sasi outlined.

“Through this partnership with Civica, that intelligence can be directly embedded into operational workflows, enabling better decisions, reduced risk and more effective long-term management.”

The distinction between data and intelligence is one that has become increasingly relevant for local governments dealing with ageing tree populations, extreme weather events and growing community expectations around urban greening. Councils have historically relied on periodic manual inspections and spreadsheets to track their tree assets, an approach that can leave gaps in coverage and make it difficult to prioritise maintenance.

By contrast, the greehill system uses LiDAR scanning to capture detailed three-dimensional models of trees, which can then be analysed using AI to assess health, structural risk and canopy coverage at scale. Feeding that information directly into ArborSafe’s compliance and workflow engine is intended to close the loop between data collection and operational action.

Sanctuary Cove as an early adopter

Sanctuary Cove Estate, which is already a Civica customer, will be among the first communities to benefit from the combined capabilities of the two platforms.

The estate will use greehill’s LiDAR-based scanning, high-resolution digital twins and advanced analytics alongside Civica’s ArborSafe platform to build a more detailed and reliable understanding of its local tree population. The aim is to support proactive maintenance, improve resident safety and inform long-term planning decisions.

Brent Whiteman, Business Development Manager at Civica APAC, and Sasi pointed to Sanctuary Cove as an example of the kind of organisation that stands to gain from the partnership.

“Sanctuary Cove has always been proactive in the way it manages its public spaces, and this partnership gives them a powerful new level of visibility,” they noted.

“With greehill’s detailed modelling feeding directly into ArborSafe, the council can confidently plan maintenance, reduce tree-related risks and support its long-term sustainability goals.”

A growing market for urban forest tech

The partnership comes at a time when urban forest management is attracting increasing attention from local governments across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. Councils are under pressure to better understand and protect their tree assets, driven by a combination of climate adaptation strategies, community safety obligations and biodiversity targets.

Trees in urban settings present a particular management challenge. They provide environmental and social benefits including shade, air quality improvement and stormwater management, but they also pose risks if they are poorly maintained, diseased or structurally compromised. Falling branches and tree failures can result in property damage, injuries and significant liability for councils.

The use of AI and remote sensing technologies in this space has been growing as councils look for ways to manage large tree populations more efficiently. Digital-twin technology, which creates a virtual replica of physical assets, allows managers to monitor changes over time without relying solely on in-person inspections.

What the integration looks like in practice

For councils and estate managers using the combined system, the workflow is intended to be straightforward. Greehill captures detailed data on tree populations using LiDAR and other remote sensing tools. That data is processed through greehill’s AI models to generate insights on species, health, canopy dimensions and risk profiles.

Those insights are then fed into Civica’s ArborSafe platform, where they can be used to trigger maintenance workflows, schedule inspections, manage compliance requirements and generate reports. The integration means that the intelligence gathered by greehill does not sit in a separate system but becomes part of the operational tools that councils already use day to day.

This is a practical consideration that matters for councils with limited IT resources. Standalone data platforms can generate useful information, but if that information is not connected to the systems where work is planned and tracked, it risks going unused.

Broader ambitions

While the initial focus of the partnership is on councils and community estates, both companies have indicated that the combined offering could extend to other types of organisations that manage significant tree populations, including utilities, transport authorities and private landholders.

Civica operates across multiple sectors in the public and private space, providing software for governance, risk and compliance functions. The company has a presence in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and other markets. Greehill, which focuses specifically on urban tree management, has built its platform around the concept of providing city-scale intelligence rather than site-by-site assessments.

The partnership positions both companies to pursue a segment of the local government technology market that has historically been underserved by purpose-built digital tools. As councils face growing scrutiny over how they manage environmental assets, the demand for integrated solutions that combine data capture with operational workflows is likely to continue.

For Sanctuary Cove and other early adopters, the test will be whether the combined platform delivers on its promise of turning fragmented tree data into actionable intelligence that supports safer, greener and more liveable communities.

Last Updated on April 20, 2026 by Nick Ross