How we nurture future talent

The Environment Partnership is an award-winning environmental consultancy and is currently celebrating its 20th birthday.

Francis Hesketh, founder and director, gives an insight into the diversity and breadth of the profession and the way in which it nurtures skills and develops talent.

In 2003, Emma Parker was enjoying a work experience placement as a countryside ranger in North Wales. She knew she wanted an environmental career.

Paying her way by working for a landscape contractor, Emma built a portfolio of qualifications: firstly an NVQ, then a BTEC National Diploma, followed by BSc (Hons) in Agriculture, Environment and Conservation from Bangor University.

In 2010, Emma joined The Environment Partnership (TEP) as a Graduate Landscape Surveyor and in 2017 she became a Chartered Member of the Landscape Institute, via the Pathway to Chartership (Pathway) which is open to people from beyond LI-accredited degree courses.

Landscape managers plan a district-wide open space survey

© TEP

TEP director Francis Hesketh CMLI says, ‘Emma’s story shows how a career in landscape can and should be widely accessible. In fact three of TEP’s eight directors started out as rangers and are now managing major long-term contracts with Homes England, National Grid and many national housebuilders.’

One of those ex-rangers is director Cath Neve who says ‘If you have good people, you will have a good business, and TEP’s aim is to help good people find their feet in the landscape profession.’

Recruiting landscape professionals is challenging, mainly because of a shrinking pool of qualified graduates from LI-accredited courses who are eligible to work in the UK. TEP also recruits graduates with Geography, GIS, Countryside Management and Ecology degrees and provides them with training, project experience and mentoring to enable them to build a professional portfolio which leads towards LI membership.

Rebecca Martin, a senior landscape manager in TEP’s Leicestershire office, graduated with a first in Physical Geography from Manchester University. Her interest in landscape arose because she knew the health benefits of spending time outdoors and wanted to see land managed sustainably. She is now on the P2C.

A watercourse survey is carried out on land owned by Homes England.

© TEP

Rebecca explains, ‘Working in a crossdisciplinary team with ecologists and archaeologists brings me in contact with projects and experiences that stretch the horizons of landscape management. I enjoy the structured learning of P2C because it directly helps me do my job better’.

TEP is one of 21 Employer members of the Apprenticeship Landscape Trailblazer and hopes to take on at least two Level 7 landscape apprentices in 2019.

In the meantime, the company will work with the LI and universities and colleges to make sure the training element of the apprenticeships meets its needs in terms of skills and behaviours that will result in a successful environmental career. TEP has previously taken on IT apprentices which has given some insights into what the process can involve.

Cath Neve recalls ‘One IT apprenticeship really didn’t work out, despite very intensive intervention from our senior managers and his college; after he left, we found out that he never really desired an IT career, he had been pushed into it. Thankfully, our other IT apprentice was a real star and is now a highly-valued colleague, who has patiently rescued us from all our (usually self-inflicted!) technology crashes’.

Young professionals improve their botanical skills

© TEP

TEP is fortunate to have a diversity of clients. Current projects include urban design in Weston-Super-Mare, Heritage Lottery Fund park schemes in Stafford, Cardiff and Pontypridd, landscape design for new settlements in Wirral, Cambridge, Tamworth and Basingstoke, estate regeneration in inner London, a green infrastructure strategy for Blackpool, UK-Europe electrical interconnector projects on the coastline and the management of 10,000 hectares of open space for Homes England and the Land Trust.

Francis Hesketh again: ‘Environmental professionals are inquisitive people who think about the full range of environmental effects of development and land management including landscape, biodiversity, cultural heritage and socio-economic factors. Having a diversity of projects enables rapid career development and a feeling that your work, even if it seems a small contribution, does make a difference.

In our most recent staff survey, 97 per cent said they were proud of the work TEP does. Leadership guru Simon Sinek’s famous book ‘Start with Why’ reminds employers of our responsibilities to ensure our teams understand how their work contributes to the business, the client and most importantly, to society as a whole.’

A good and happy start to a landscape career is essential. Internships and sandwich years should include diverse project experiences and stimulating introductions to the wide range of career paths within landscape.

Skills shortages in landscape design and planning are acute, a situation that is likely to persist given the number of infrastructure and housing schemes pushing demand and the lead-in time for people to gain skills needed to work on major projects. Higher-level skills in design, analysis, communication, problem-solving and advocacy are required.

Ecological surveys are carried out in advance of a large housing scheme near Basingstoke.

© TEP

To address this recruitment problem, TEP maintains good links with several landscape courses, providing visiting lectures, open days and paid internships with a view to recruitment.

But the number of students on LI-accredited courses simply is not enough to meet the needs of the profession as a whole, so TEP contacted LI’s Head of External Affairs, Poppy Smith, about the LI’s Ambassador Scheme.

Poppy put TEP in touch with PLACED, a Liverpool-based social enterprise, which has been collaborating with local practices and developers to put together workshop-oriented training for 13–20 year olds who are interested in a career in place-making and the built environment, and includes connecting with undergraduates on geography and built environment courses.

TEP now has three CMLI staff who are volunteer Ambassadors with PLACED, and the company hopes that collaboration will broaden the pool of candidates interested in a landscape career. It also will put TEP in contact with graduates from built environment courses who may not previously have thought a career in landscape was available.

A member of the TEP team inspects new reedbeds which form part of a new housing scheme at Runcorn.

© TEP

Charlotte Hayden is an associate at TEP whose career includes urban design, landscape capacity studies and landscape and visual assessment. She mentors P2C candidates and is volunteering with PLACED.

She recognises the business challenges: ‘It is always fulfilling to mentor landscape professionals, although deadline-driven workloads and tight margins can mean that it is hard to make time to ensure people receive enough training, mentoring contact time and project diversity.

But we have to look on it as a long-term investment for the business and adjust our short-term targets to allow training time. If we get it right, it will benefit the business by developing new skills, lowering recruitment costs and improving work-life balance.’

TEP is determined to remain a business led by environmentalists. It is owned and managed by its senior members of staff and recently appointed five additional directors, three of whom are LI members, alongside two ecologists. All have worked their way up in the business from entry-level positions but still maintain day-to-day responsibilities for their projects and teams.

LI members in the Liverpool / Manchester area should contact PLACED if they would like to get involved in a similar scheme. http://www.placed.org.uk