4 minute read
Education
Getting back to your roots
William Innes-Taylor
Landscape GO building real careers Everyone has a story of how they came to join the landscape industry, be that as a school leaver, training at college or university, as an apprentice, a career changer or maybe a
Youth Training Scheme. Inspiring people to join the industry so often starts with telling them the story of how you came in and your journey (so far), going on to describe what you love about it and what the future looks like. We hear from William Innes-Taylor, Contracts
Manager with Oak View Landscapes about his journey and his long-standing history with the Association and as a
GoLandscape Ambassador.
Why landscaping?
I got into landscaping at an early age as I enjoyed working with plants and improving gardens around my hometown in Lincolnshire. From there my interest grew, I looked for more challenging projects and finally decided after college to attend Writtle College to study horticulture. After looking at different avenues of horticulture while at Writtle, I discovered a passion for ‘proper’ landscaping. I then met with Oak View Landscapes and Paul Downer.
How did you hear about landscaping as a career?
I heard about commercial, high-end landscaping through BALI and my former tutor Greg Allen. We were taught at university about what the Association stands for and the companies that work with it. So, a few others and I really wanted to focus on working for a company with BALI accreditation.
How did you start?
I started mowing gardens, from there I moved into landscaping gardens in my spare time. After studying horticulture then business studies at college and horticultural science at university, I realised I wanted to work in commercial landscaping. Very fortunately I knew what I wanted to do in life, and I enjoy my job and working in a highly professional company with likeminded, quality-driven colleagues.
What has your work history been so far?
So far, I worked for a maintenance company in my early to mid-teen years, then I set up and did my own landscaping work through college up to university. During university I won the BALI Chalk Fund award in my final year, then I became employed with Oak View Landscapes as their Assistant Manager, progressing to Contracts Manager. After a year or so I briefly moved home and started at Tim Wells Nurseries working as their Project Manager on high level schemes throughout the South West.
During my time there I was one of the 30 under 30 ProLandscaper award winners then just before 2019, I moved back to Oak View Landscapes as Contracts Manager overseeing many brilliant landscaping schemes with 33 external staff.
The people in the industry are incredible! There’s a superb bond between good landscapers; we are in a unique industry where everyone is extremely passionate about what they do. Everyone buys into all the work they do, and we are an incredibly caring and professional bunch.
Starting in the industry at a young age and being quite inexperienced I must say I have never been made to feel unwelcome. I have always been welcomed and people are always wanting to share their knowledge.
What’s the biggest challenge of the industry?
Recruiting young people into the industry is by far the most significant issue we face; landscaping has never been actively sold as a viable career option. It certainly was not when I was at school. And it should, there is no reason why it shouldn’t be. There is a good reason why many come into the industry as a second career later down the line. Therefore, the GoLandscape initiative is so valuable.
How important is training and education?
Education and training are vital, it drives employees and rightfully everyone deserves to be competently trained in what they want to do in life. It is important to motivate individuals by training them regularly, keeping the industry professional. You are never too young to train or start a new education. I do think landscaping, or some part of amenity horticulture should be more widely provided in schools and colleges.
What do you think the industry could do better?
Raising the worth of what we do as an industry is so important and gender diversification.
I think the value of what we do needs to be raised, understandably people do not really understand how much time, money and energy goes into landscaping design and installation. Once we have people widely understanding the value of what we do the industry will become naturally better paid, attract younger and more experienced and driven individuals.
Gender diversification is important too. Encouraging different genders to the construction side of landscaping is a challenge, but it is slowly increasing however we need to encourage this more.
What’s next?
Currently, I see my future with Oak View Landscapes. My personal aim is to win certain BALI and ProLandscaper awards over the next few years, and help the company achieve its goals. I also want to further develop within the Association. A lot to get on with, so bring it on! Find out more about GoLandscape and how to become an Ambassador at
golandscape.co.uk
Written by Stephen Ensell
Education Officer (GoLandscape)
