English Landscapes

Landscape management

Whitefriars awarded a new Landscape Maintenance Contract to English Landscapes from 1 January 2004; the contract is for three years. This is a newly developed and enhanced specification covering all aspects of routine grounds maintenance, weed spraying, hedges, shrub beds, cleansing of bins and bin houses, litter collection and sweeping of pathways, garage areas, work to water courses and general tree maintenance providing an improved delivery of services in support of our estate management.

We are currently developing our monitoring arrangements and will be utilising the Graphical Information System (GIS) to visually aid land ownership identification and the range of routine maintenance elements Citywide in order to easily recognise the work content.

English Landscapes is a subsidiary of The Landscape Group Ltd and is a company of national repute with a combined turnover of £30 million being recognised with over 20 National Awards for the quality of the services they provide.

Tree Management

During February and March 2004, Whitefriars carried out a full tree survey employing Arbortrack, specialist arboriculturists, to identify the number of trees on our land, to provide an inventory and full condition report per tree and recommendations for planned tree maintenance over the next five years. This data has been collated and is accessible on our GIS.

Historically, Whitefriars has reactively responded to tree emergencies and works. The survey enables a proactive approach for tree management and identifies our risks, delivering an improved planned spend and Programme of Works. The tree surgery will be carried out following a tendering process and it is hoped that works can start from September 2004 with an annual contract being awarded.

On both Landscape and Tree Management customer involvement is an essential part. We are currently developing a Tenants Jury to take a leading role in estate management and to seek wider customer satisfaction.

• For more information on their activities visit www.thelandscapegroup.co.uk or
  www.cw-chamber.co.uk/chamber