With its previous contract with The London Borough of Southwark stretching back to 1996, Quadron was very pleased to rewin this and an additional area in 2004 to create an Integrated Parks and Grounds Management Contract for the entire borough. We have also been awarded a five year extension to the original contract term.
The contract is divided into five areas, each centred around a major park: Peckham Rye, Burgess, Dulwich, Southwark and Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park. In order to provide effective customer and client liaison in each area, Quadron has mirrored its client's structure and provided a supervisor for each area and head gardener for each of the five major parks.
Historic Dulwich Park has been awarded a BALI National Award in 2010, described by the judge as being one of the best parks he has ever seen: a real accolade to Head Gardener Ric Glenn and his team.
Southwark now has ten Green Flag parks, gaining more each year, with Russia Dock Woodland and Paterson Park gaining theirs in 2009, Brimmington Park in 2010 and St Mary's Frobisher and Brunswick Park being the latest addition in 2011.
Quadron introduced electric vehicles into its parks in Southwark. The fleet of Diablines was the largest in the UK at the time, although it has now been replaced with JD E-Gators. With a range of 35 miles and speed limited to 30mph they are ideal for use in parks. They have zero emissions, and being small and light, cause less damage to pathways and grass areas than traditional vehicles. They are cheap to run and popular with staff and parks users alike.
Each park has an active and vocal "Friends of" group, whose meetings Quadron representatives attend. We also encourage group members to join Quadron and client staff on site in "walkabouts". Such face to face contact enables issues to be discussed and mutually resolved and leads to a much closer understanding between the parties.
Steve Cornish (Friends of Russia Dock Woodland Chair) says "Quadron have been our woodlands contractor for three years now. They are doing an excellent job in keeping our 30 acre woodland spic and span. The general public have built up a very good relationship with our two full time Quadron employees, who not only get on with their daily chores but respond to any problems which may arise from day to day. Russia Dock Woodland is only one mile from the City of London in a very built up and urban part of the capital, so we do have a fair share of anti social behaviour which we are gradually getting on top of. I generally meet with the two Quadron employees on a daily basis for any updates or any problems. Quadron's managers meet with us on site or at our regular meetings at all times."
Quadron Friends Newsletters ("Groundbreakers") are also published quarterly and circulated to all "Friends of" group members, by email or hard copy if preferred. Feedback on these has been very positive. The group members like to be kept informed and involved in what is going on with their service.
Our staff training development has resulted in all staff on the contract attaining a NVQ2 in Amenity Horticulture with a further 15 staff achieving the NVQ3 also in amenity horticulture. This ongoing development has meant that we have exceeded client KPI performance scores and continue to strive for improved quality performance across the Borough.
