Quadron commits to assisting Birmingham in achieving top quartile performance and its vision for a global city with a local heart; a cleaner, greener and safer city, which will enable all its richly diverse communities to benefit from a better quality of life.
Quadron's investment in Birmingham includes over 3.5m in environmentally friendly vehicle and plant resources as well as a significantly enhanced management structure.
One of the main features of the bid is the introduction of a Horticultural Development Manager to liaise with all the many stakeholder groups, in particular Birmingham Open Spaces Forum and other local community groups. Nicola Little started in the summer of 2009 and has already made a significant impact in ensuring that the service delivered matches the specific needs of local users through regular meetings and consultation, and by developing the role of park keepers to provide safer and cleaner, more user-friendly parks. Specific achievements include:
- close liaison with all the friends of groups
- successful funding applications on behalf of local community groups
- winter & summer hanging basket workshops
- local In Bloom judging and Trainee Judge for Heart of England in Bloom
- tree planting with Birmingham Trees for Life and local communities
- the writing and compilation of a Green Flag Management Plan for Ward End Park on behalf of Birmingham City Council - resulting in the winning of its first Green Flag in 2010!
- spearheading and rolling out of Biodiversity Champions projects
- Working on BCC Conservation Committee
- Working on Selly Oak Environmental Committee
- facilitating community work.
Quadron has also offered assistance and sponsorship to many community associations, friends groups and local committees, for example BOSF, Moseley In Bloom, Highbury Park Friends, Friends of Cotteridge Park and Heart of England in Bloom.
Quadron can offer all employees the security and peace of mind that come with a ten year contract. Working in cooperation with King's Heath Park Horticultural Training School, the company is also making substantial investment in training and apprenticeship programmes to improve the overall skills levels within the workforce. Three new apprentices have started this year and NVQ2 training is ongoing. The five assistant contract managers have recently undergone eleven days of intensive training to enable them to qualify as Lantra-Awards instructors and they are now able to give accredited training to their colleagues and all new recruits.
Investment has also been made in a new fleet of over 70 vehicles including 55 VW Crafters with Blue TDI engines. This was a record order for Volkswagen. The Crafter's certification as an EEV (Enhanced Environmentally Friendly Vehicle) was one of the main factors in the decision. A host of mechanical enhancements has enabled reduced fuel consumption and emissions beyond the latest Euro5 standards. Emissions of particulates, hydrocarbon and carbon monixide are half way to meeting the next Euro6 standard, thus protecting Birmingham's air quality for the next few years!
A further environmental initiative is the introduction of five Biodiversity Champions, whose role is to raise awareness of environmental issues within the workforce and to work closely with Client Officers to adapt working practices accordingly. They also work with local volunteers on community projects, such as a Clearance Day at Saltley Pools (please see the download on the right for further details).
If you have any comment regarding our service provision please complete our Feedback Form: it is only through listening to the views of our customers that we are able to continually improve and adapt the service to meet the evolving needs of the local population.
