Assistant Gardener

Assistant Gardener (22.5hrs) - Peterborough Cathedral

**Salary**: £22480 (pro rata)

To be an effective Cathedral Gardener, previous experience in a horticultural role is essential with an ability of managing multiple projects and demands at the same time. You should have a minimum of RHS Horticultural qualification or provide evidence of an equivalent college diploma. Preferably you have experience of working as a gardener and have a minimum of 2 years' experience in all aspects of horticulture.

Working within a small team you will assist in the care, improvement and maintenance of the substantial grounds, including the flower beds, the numerous lawn areas and the tree stock. The role being mainly hands on you will need to demonstrate a skillful approach, have good physical stamina and a willingness to work in all weathers.

Having customer contact with the various tenants living and working in the Precincts properties you will have excellent communication and customer relationship skills. You will be joining a small team and at times you may be required to carry out other jobs such as clearing rubbish and moving items and objects from site to site as required, particularly when setting up stages and events, etc.

You need to demonstrate that you can work at height and that you are familiar with following risk assessments, method statements and implementing safe systems at work.

You should be an effective team player with high attention to detail and can take direction and instruction from the Head Gardener as well as delegating tasks to others when needed.

You should be able to take responsibility, make informed decisions, direct and instruct colleagues. You will be working with horticultural volunteers so patience and a willingness to teach others your skills and knowledge would be required.

Main Responsibilities**:Implement the gardening requirements for the Cathedral grounds. ** Assist the Head Gardener in supervising the volunteers in the execution of gardening tasks around the Precincts. **Undertake the routine maintenance and enhancement of the various horticultural elements of the Cathedral grounds and gardens by maintaining the shrub and flower borders, the orchards, small woodlands and surrounding areas. ** Upkeep of the lawn areas, and soft and hard landscaping around the Cathedral Precincts. **Assist in the maintenance and care of all the gardening equipment, tools and machinery and keep in good condition. ** Be familiar with all H&S requirements and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment regulation (PUWER). **Keep the precincts clean and tidying, daily collecting of litter and emptying bins. ** Ensure that safeguarding of any gardening volunteer is implemented and adhered to. **Contribute to the pleasant appearance of the precincts and assist with litter/refuge collection from around the Cathedral Grounds, the Cathedral and associated buildings. Specific Responsibilities**: Excellent knowledge of plants and flowers with experience in pruning and care of plants. **Have an interest in creating new and maintaining existing beds and flower areas constantly striving to improve the green space. ** Have an attitude of eco-friendly gardening and sustainable gardening practices such as recycling and composting green waste. **Assist in attracting wildlife and create eco systems. ** Able to carry out hard and soft landscaping and potential high-level work of ladders or tower scaffold. **Experience in weeding, spraying. ** Experienced in the use of powered machinery such as ride on mowers, strimmer’s, chipper shredders, hedge cutters and leaf blowers and have experience of machinery and tool maintenance. **Ability to work and support volunteers and colleagues of different disciplines. ** Undertake any training as and when required. **Awareness of timescales and seasonal deadlines. ** Good communication skills with the ability to work as part of a team.

**Job Type**: Part-time

**Salary**: £22,480.00 per year

Expected hours: 22.5 per week

**Benefits**:

- Casual dress
- Company pension
- Flexitime
- Health & wellbeing programme
- On-site parking

Schedule:

- Monday to Friday

**Experience**:

- Gardening: 1 year (preferred)

Licence/Certification:

- Driving Licence (preferred)

Ability to Commute:

- Peterborough (required)

Ability to Relocate:

- Peterborough: Relocate before starting work (required)

Work Location: In person