Through the new contracts, The Royal Parks charity, which manages London’s eight historic Royal Parks as well as other important green spaces in the capital, will continue to deliver the highest horticultural standards as well as increase community engagement through volunteering, across these iconic parks.
The tender will seek bids for contracts to cover landscape maintenance services across all the parks, with the exception of The Regent’s Park which already has a contract in place.
The new contracts will be delivered through a new structure, in which a Royal Parks’ head gardener will be appointed in each of the parks, including Brompton Cemetery, and with two head gardeners appointed in Richmond Park, to directly instruct a team of contract gardeners.
The head gardener will also be responsible for engaging the communities around their parks. This will see the recruitment of volunteers to provide additional support to the growing gardening teams and provide the capacity for gardening teams to carry out additional tasks over and above the services currently delivered.
The contracts will prioritise sustainability, for example around green waste recycling and waste management, and ensure a greater emphasis on protecting a biodiverse environment. The new contracts will include updated approaches to incorporate current industry standards and good practice.
The Royal Parks’ Director of Parks, Tom Jarvis, said: “This is a rare opportunity to bid for a tender to care for these beautiful and iconic locations, such as the famous Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park.
“The parks are a vital resource for the millions of people who visit them every year, and especially the local communities, providing spaces for people to engage in nature, enjoy exercise, play with their children or just take time out to relax – boosting mental and physical wellbeing.
“Working alongside the Royal Parks’ apprentice scheme, we’re looking for the right team to go the extra mile and help us to push up the already high standards for horticulture and biodiversity in the Royal Parks. We’re looking for people to help us protect the wonderful wildlife within the parks, while engaging our communities – particularly people without garden space of their own and who, since lockdown, have benefited from these incredible landscapes.”
For more information: Find high value contracts in the public sector - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
