Not just another day at the office

throughout 2022, hundreds of employees have swapped their offices and workplaces for a day of ‘green’ volunteering in the community. they have joined tCV for an employee action day to improve a local greenspace or community resource. a number of companies have participated over the past year including natWest, Sky and oVo energy. in locations across fife, edinburgh and the lothians they have undertaken projects as diverse as building sensory gardens, raised beds and composting areas to invasive species removal and creating pollinator corridors and other biodiversity enhancements. and lots of tree planting! these activities have been organised by tCV Senior Project officers Marc Knight and Teri Grieve, based in our edinburgh office. most recently, natWest volunteers have been planting trees as part of the City of edinburgh Council’s one million tree Campaign to plant a million trees by 2030. an estimated 240,000 trees still need to be planted to reach that goal. marc says: “We’ve recently planted several hundred metres of hedging and some woodland pockets at Corstorphine Hill and we’ll return in January to add to these. And we’re planting at Threipmuir Reservoir, to the south of the city, with native Scottish species suitable for a wetland environment, including downy birch, hazel, alder and several species of willow. At Corstorphine Hill, we’re also planting an orchard of Scottish heritage fruit varieties including plums, pears and apples, all of which have been sustainably grown and specially selected to withstand an increasingly variable Scottish climate! The orchard planting will involve volunteers from the Open University. By the end of the planting season we’ll have planted approximately 18,000 trees.” teri adds: ”It’s great to involve the volunteers from NatWest and other organisations. They are always incredibly keen to make a difference to their local environment and community. We thank them all for their hard work, and we’re looking forward to providing further opportunities during 2023, so it’s very much a case of more of the same!” if your organisation is interested in our employee action days, please email