Garden Maintenance Foreman

Outsiders is a well-respected garden design, landscaping and maintenance company which cares for premium domestic and commercial sites throughout London.

We are looking for an experienced and motivated full-time Garden Maintenance Foreman to join our busy team.

The successful candidate must hold a full, clean driving licence and will need to be happy to travel and work throughout central London.

They should have good horticultural knowledge, a keen eye for detail and be able to work both independently and as part of a team.

Role:

• General gardening maintenance tasks including care of plants in both indoor and outdoor settings: watering, planting annuals and bulbs, pruning, irrigation, lawn care and overall garden maintenance and development.

•   Deliver great customer service and respond appropriately to any queries

•   Daily completion of electronic job sheets highlighting next steps

You will need:

• 2+ years recent industry experience with demonstrable knowledge of planting, pruning, pest & disease control, irrigation, seasonal garden tasks, lawn care etc
• Good organisation and time management.
• Ideally a recognised horticultural qualification, or a high level of horticultural experience/knowledge
• Excellent communication skills, able to communicate effectively and appropriately with clients, operations team and designers.
• Right to live and work in the UK
• Full clean UK driving license is essential. Prior experience of driving vans is important but not essential.

Salary: £35,000 to £45,000.00 per year, depending on experience

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) honours the 1.7 million members of the Commonwealth forces who died in the First and Second World Wars, ensuring they will never be forgotten. Our work commemorates the war dead, from building and maintaining our cemeteries and memorials at 23,000 locations in more than 150 countries to preserve our extensive records and archives. Our values and aims, laid out in 1917, are as relevant now as they were 100 years ago.

General

• Undertaking practical horticultural maintenance, renovation work and caretaking duties. This includes mowing, edging, hedge cutting, weeding, pruning and pesticide application.
• Planning and organising daily workload, appropriate to each site. This includes compiling stock order for plants, chemicals, fertilisers, PPE and machinery.
• Responsible for the safe operation, care, day to day maintenance and repair of all work equipment to a set standard. This includes team vehicles.
• To report to Line Management any structural defects noted, any development in the surroundings or environment of cemeteries and memorials, which are observed during maintenance duties.
• To observe the Commissions safety procedures and safe working practices, ensuring that PPE is used appropriately, and that the Commission’s H&S policies, procedures and safety instructions are adhered to at all times.
• Undertake H&S risk assessments in accordance with CWGC processes and priorities.
• Familiar with, and competent in undertaking a number of routine administrative duties. This includes the use of IT, smart phones and table- based technology.
• Undertake any other duties which may reasonably be regarded as within the nature of the role.
• Cross function work within the region; working with Skilled Maintenance Craftsperson (SMC) on renovation work.
• Representation of the Commission at ceremonies.
• The provision of advice/direction and other information to Cemetery visitors/members of the public, helping them locate war graves

Job Functional Knowledge

• Supporting the GC1iC with the execution and co-ordination of Horticulture Standards in the cemeteries, plots and memorials, and in other countries UKNA operations, if required.

Problem Solving

• Identifying and presenting solutions to problems, knowing when to escalate when necessary.

Nature of Impact

• Awareness of how role integrates into the team, region and Area.

Area of Impact

• UKNA, primarily North Region.

Interpersonal Skills

• Able to communicate effectively with colleagues at all levels.

Education and Knowledge

Essential

• NVQ Level 2 in Amenity Horticulture or equivalent is desirable
• Practical experience of horticultural/gardening work
• A good level of computer literacy or the ability to learn quickly

Skills and Abilities

• Good craft gardening skills
• Ability to work alone and using their initiative, as well part of a team
• Effective communication and listening skills
• Decision making skills and the ability to use own initiative, to resolve issues
• Takes responsibility for action
• Good organisational and time management skills
• Sense of service delivery
• Good resource management
• Awareness of the aims and objectives of the organisation
• Everyone who works for us, or with us, shares our Values, which are formed around our concept of CARE (Commitment, Ambition, Respect and Excellence). We are proud and committed to ensuring we bring this to life every day, for ourselves, each other and those who lost their lives.

• Health and Safety responsibility for self

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Your key duties are set out within this job description. From time to time, you may be required to perform such other reasonable duties that fall outside your job title or key job duties, should this be necessary to meet the needs of the Commission.

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