Head Gardener - Aylesbury, United Kingdom - Kingsbrook Parish Council

Kingsbrook Parish Council
Kingsbrook Parish Council
Verified Company
Aylesbury, United Kingdom

2 weeks ago

Tom O´Connor

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Tom O´Connor

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Description

The Head Gardener will report directly to the Estate Manager and work closely alongside them to complete the day-to-day tasks around the Kingsbrook estate.

These tasks include (but are not limited to); mowing, strimming, hedge cutting, weeding, general soft landscaping and hard landscaping if required, eg hoggin path maintenance.

This role will suit someone who has experience coordinating a small team as we look to hire junior gardeners in the future.


Kingsbrook is a unique site with a wide and diverse range of green areas to manage, varying from parkland and sports pitches to ecological mitigation lands, lakes and SuDs.

Every area of the site presents different challenges and requires a team with a range of skills to keep it up to the desired standard.

Days/Hours: 37.5 hours a week


Seasonal hours:
08:00 - 16:30 BST and 08:00 - 15:30 GMT

Key duties and responsibilities


Contributing to the Estate Vision:

  • Ensuring all works are completed to a high standard that maximises resident and community enjoyment of the green spaces.
  • Promoting ecological biodiversity wherever possible to minimise the estates impact on the local area.
  • Identifying problem around the estate, and making recommendations for improvements.
  • Suggesting new or refreshed planting.
  • Longterm thinking when works are being planned and suggested.

Maintenance of Parks:

  • Mowing, strimming and edging lawns in relation to area specifications as detailed in the estate design and maintenance plans.
  • Cleaning and clearing of debris (leaves, litter picking).
  • Trimming of border shrubs and keeping borders weed free.
  • Application of herbicides to hardlandscaped areas in conjunction with the maintenance plan.
  • Conduct visual checks of play equipment and hard surfaces and report any damage through the relevant processes.

Maintenance of wider estate grounds:

  • Pruning, trimming, weeding, deadheading and tidying plants, shrubs, roses etc. in accordance with good horticultural practise and estate design requirements.
  • Ensuring plants have sufficient water and nutrition (feeding and mulching)
  • Plan mulching and border maintenance as and when required.
  • Assisting the production of homemade composts/mulch (turning, watering and aerating compost heaps), laying down mulch, woodchips and soil conditioners to improve soil fertility.
  • Monitoring for signs of pest and disease infestations and treating as appropriate.
  • Maintaining walking strips around lakes and suds to specification.
  • Monitor and maintain wildflower areas to provide maximum bloom and diversity.
  • Maintenance of those allotments and the community garden and community orchard areas that fall within the responsibility of Kingsbrook Parish Council.

Health and Safety:

  • Ensure all machinery is kept in a safe working condition according to Risk Assessments and manufacturer recommendations for individual machines and internal procedures.
  • With the Estate Manager, ensure the Grounds department complies with all necessary statutory Health and Safety legislation.
  • Comply with any procedures required by Kingsbrook Parish Council in order to ensure the health and safety of themselves, their colleagues and any other persons that may be affected by their actions.
  • Undertake any training provided in relation to health and safety.

Qualifications:

Essential
A relevant horticultural qualification (NVQ level 2 or RHS level 2 in Horticulture) or equivalent experience
Experience and knowledge of working as a skilled gardener
Hold a minimum of five GCSEs or equivalent, including Maths and English at grade 4 or above
Experience in the use of garden machinery, ride on mowers, hedge cutters etc.
Current Driving License

Desireable
Experience and knowledge of working as a Head gardener
Experience supervising small numbers of staff daily.
Machine or tool tickets in the relevant field
Experience in tractor attachments and PTO operation

Technical Knowledge and Skills

Essential
Ability to demonstrate a good standard of skills associated with gardening
Ability and understanding of working with a formal Health and Safety Policy
Basic IT skills and use of IT equipment

Desireable
Good admin and IT skills

Personal Attributes

  • Professional, with a good eye for detail
  • Flexible
  • Able to work on their own and to use their initiative
  • A clear desire to help and a cando attitude
  • A good communicator both will colleagues and the general public
  • Physically fit
  • Have a high level of spoken and written English (this is essential to carry out the duties of the position and for Health and Safety training)
Teamwork Skills

  • Able to work as part of a team as well as under own initiative
  • To be a strong 'team player'
  • Be a decisionmaker
  • Ability to adapt to the different needs of working within Kingsbrook
  • Willing to take on duties outside of the norm to support Kingsbrook Parish Council as required, for example, preparation for community events, setting up the community Christmas trees.
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