Skilled Grounds Maintenance Operative

Skilled Gardener- Full Time You will need to be very good and experienced to apply for this role Location: The Palace of Westminster Houses of Parliament / London Hourly Rate: Up to £18.83 per hour Contract type: Permanent if all goes well Working hours: 3 days (24hrs) working within The Palace of Westminster Houses of Parliament. 2 days as a skilled gardener on a separate site around the same location, if full-time hours required- 40hrs) About the role Our client currently provides horticultural & landscaping services for the Palace of Westminster Estate. This is an exciting opportunity for a skilled & experienced horticulturalist to get involved with the preparations around events like the State Opening of Parliament. There may at times be requests coming from multiple stakeholders (the Speaker's Office, the Ceremonial Works Office, or the Service Delivery Manager) all at once that will be reactive & the candidate will be required to support the Head Gardener in managing these complex pressures. Responsibilities * Regular site inspection * Clearance of litter, debris and detritus * Grass cutting, edging and cultural operations * Weeding, pruning and dead-heading of planted areas, including containers * Re-mulching / top-dressing planted areas and hedge bases * Hedge cutting and maintenance * Pleaching trees * Hard surface weed control * Hard surface cleansing, including sweeping and pressure washing * Maintenance of gravel areas * Leaf clearing - all areas * Green roof maintenance * Irrigation generally * Maintenance of internal plants, including trees at PCH In addition, you may be asked to support in the delivery of ad-hoc works, such as: * Re-instatement of lawn areas following events * Emergency tree work * Replacement planting * Improvements to the green roof * Site improvement work Requirements You will be required to possess the stipulated level of security vetting. We would ask that any successful applicant proactively engages with this vetting process as soon as an offer has been made, since it can take several weeks for the process to run its course. * N.B. A requirement of the vetting procedure is to supply HMRC evidence of the previous 3 years' employment. * Demonstratable high-horticultural skills and knowledge, backed up by a formal Horticultural qualification (equiv. L2 NVQ/RHS Hort). * Demonstratable experience on working with multiple stakeholders within the field of horticulture/landscaping. * Awareness of equality and diversity, health and safety and safeguarding. * Excellent people skills including team working, problem solving and the ability to be calm and decisive in challenging situations * A flexible approach to work * Harness Training would be desirable. Starts ASAP Please send a CV or call to apply