About CDTS North & West
30+ Years of Specialist Seeding Experience
A Specialist Seeding Contractor, Founded in 1991, Working on Construction Sites Across the UK.
CDTS North & West Ltd is an independent hydroseeding and ecological seeding contractor based at Alport Farm in Cheshire. We have been on UK construction sites since 1991, applying hydroseed slurry, bonded fibre matrix, conventional seedbeds, direct tree seeding and locally harvested wildflower mixes for Tier 1 contractors, house builders, highways and rail clients, quarry and landfill operators, and local authorities.
The company is run by director James Thomson, who has built CDTS around a single idea: that seeding is a technical discipline, not a finishing trade. The crews, the fleet and the documentation are all set up to be specified into a tender pack, mobilised quickly, and signed off without surprises.
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Where We Came From
CDTS started in the early 1990s as a small specialist outfit working on landscape and restoration projects across the UK. Hydroseeding was, at the time, an unfamiliar method on most UK sites. We invested in the equipment early, learned the application discipline by doing it on real schemes, and grew the fleet and the workload year on year.
In 2021, the business divided into two independent companies: CDTS South & East and CDTS North & West. The two companies operate independently, but the split reflected the growing demand for specialist hydroseeding across the UK rather than any change in approach.
Over three decades on, the business has expanded into a UK-wide contractor working on motorway and trunk road embankments, dam faces, sea defences, capped landfills, quarry restoration, housing and biodiversity projects. We have stayed deliberately specialist. CDTS does seeding, erosion control and the ecology work that sits next to them.
That focus is the reason most of our work now comes from repeat clients and direct referrals.
How We're Set Up
CDTS is built to slot into a Tier 1 procurement process. The practical consequences for site teams and procurement managers:
The fleet is owned, not hired. Six hydroseeders, slope-rated tractors, drills and trailers are all in-house and maintained on-site. We do not depend on plant hire to mobilise.
Crews are direct employees, not agency labour. Operator skill has a measurable effect on application uniformity and germination outcomes, so we invest in retaining experienced staff who understand soil chemistry, slope, weather windows and product specification.
CHAS accreditation (membership CHAS-29009949, SSIP Approved Contractor) is held continuously. RAMS, method statements and competency certificates are written to drop straight into a contractor pre-qualification pack.
Insurance is carried with AXA: £5M public liability, £10M employers liability, £350K contractors all risks. Certificates are available on request.
Where We Work
We are based in Cheshire, fifteen minutes from the A55 and within easy reach of the M6 and M56. From Allport Farm we mobilise across the whole of the UK. Recent and ongoing work has run from the Scottish Highlands and Cumbria down to the South East, with concentrated activity in the North West, North Wales, the West Midlands and Scotland.
Long-distance jobs are normal for us. The fleet is configured for tow-out and self-contained mobilisation, and crews routinely stay on or near larger sites for the duration of an application window.
Our Approach in Three Lines
Get the specification right before mobilisation. Most failed seeding jobs trace back to the wrong product, the wrong rate or the wrong window, not to the application itself. We will challenge a specification that does not fit the site.
Use the right machine for the slope, the access and the ground. A 6,000-litre lorry-mounted unit and a 2,000-litre towed unit are different tools for different jobs. The fleet exists so we never have to compromise on this.
Document everything. Every project has a written method statement, a risk assessment, an application record and, where useful, photographic evidence. Procurement teams should be able to close out a CDTS package without chasing paperwork.
Discuss Your Project
Send us your drawings, your specification, or just a description of the site. We will review access, slope, ground conditions and programme, recommend an approach, and give you a budget figure or a fixed quote. Most enquiries get a response within 24 hours.