“We used to use pedestrian mowers to cut the entire grass area. If I asked my team to do that now they’d look at me like I was joking”
contend with, driven by vastly increased air traffic at the airport since the second runway was built.
Nowadays, the airport embraces all the new technology. “We use everything from mulching mowers to tree and woodland management software,” he says. “Along with the usual staple of compact tractors, triple ride-on mowers, chainsaws and strimmers.” Add to this the support of an in-house environment team and ecologist and the size of the job in managing the landscape becomes apparent. “It’s such a wide-ranging industry nowadays,” he explains. “A lot of people don’t know the scope of the job. It ranges from the basic gardener to research scientists looking at new strains in laboratories. It’s a huge industry.”
But it’s also one that he believes suffers from a low level of awareness among younger people. “We’ve an ageing skills base and I don’t see many young people coming into the industry,” he says. “There needs to be some considerable work done in schools and careers fairs to change this perception that we are just a low paid industry. “We do a fair amount of
work experience here but the children tend to want to work in more glamorous jobs in the airport and don’t really understand the scope of our work in grounds maintenance.” To further drive his point home, he recalls recently looking through a careers brochure that his children were given at school. “It was very patronising,” he says. “Under horticulture it simply said you need a desire to get your hands dirty. That is quite insulting really, as no two days here are the same. One day you’ll be working with the ecologist on a conservation site and the next you could be laying turf to
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help put Concorde on display. We really need to change this one dimensional perception of the kind of work we do.”
His job today is based as much on people
management, for instance managing change and keeping abreast of health and safety legislation, as it is on turf and plant care - which is a science in itself. One area where the airport’s landscape team stand to make progress on raising awareness of the job they do is through their network of community champions. This sees Hugh and his team engage with local communities to promote civic improvement and show how the airport is committed to being a good steward of its surrounding environment. “We’re involved in a lot of community projects,” Hugh explains. “We’ve recently worked with the YMCA and we’re currently working with the Shaw Trust, an organisation that provides training and work
opportunities for people who are disadvantaged or have a disability. We’ve taken a placement from the Shaw Trust and he is currently studying for an NVQ level 2 award in Amenity Horticulture.”
Hugh is the first to admit that there is still considerable work to be done to raise public awareness of the valuable work carried out by grounds professionals. But after the events at Glasgow airport earlier this year, which saw Stephen Clarkson, a self-employed groundsman, single-handedly tackle a terrorist and subsequently receive national praise for his actions, is there a better advert for the profession? “Grounds maintenance is changing,” concludes Hugh, “and I’m pleased that its ‘cloth cap’ image is starting to change. But there’s still a lot more work to do!”
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