Assistant Gardener/Gardener

Job introduction

The city of Brighton & Hove has approximately 147 parks and gardens (covering 1,200 hectares), including seven award-winning parks, and the city’s parks and public open spaces are immensely popular with residents and tourists alike.

The council’s City Parks department is responsible for maintaining all those public open spaces to a highly professional and safe standard. In addition, City Parks manages grounds maintenance contracts for the council’s Housing, Highways and Cemeteries departments.

The ideal candidates should be initiative-taking and with experience working in horticultural and grounds maintenance.

The roles require a wide range of experience using grounds maintenance equipment. A sound knowledge of health and safety relating to grounds maintenance is essential.

About the role

This is a chance to work in the vibrant City of Brighton & Hove within the Cityparks department. Do you enjoy working outside in a team with the grounds maintenance sector, delivering quality horticulture? If so, we are looking for Assistant Gardeners & Gardeners to join our friendly & professional teams to deliver the safe and effective day-to-day delivery of maintenance. You will be working in a variety of green space environments throughout the city, ensuring a high standard of horticulture for residents and visitors to enjoy and help maintain Brighton & Hove’s reputation as a top visitor destination in the UK.

Candidates must hold a full UK manual driving licence.

Level 1 NVQ horticultural qualification or equivalent experience in sector disciplines.

A NPTC PA1 & PA6A spraying certificates and LANTRA training to operate a ride-on mower are desirable qualifications for all roles.

We are seeking a dedicated and responsible applicant who can demonstrate the following qualities:

• Good people skills and ability to build strong working relationships
• Awareness of Health & Safety legislation relating to grounds maintenance
• Experience using a wide range of grounds maintenance equipment & knowledge of basic vehicle and machinery maintenance
• Ability to identify a range of shrub and plant species
• An ethos of working sustainably, support and practice the council’s customer care values and to instil this culture within your team

In return there are a wide range of staff benefits.

If you do not have experience in all areas, we would still like to hear from you, please contact us for an informal chat.

For an informal discussion, please call 01273 294751 or email cityparks@brighton-hove.gov.uk and leave a message for an Operations Manager to contact you.

As part of your application, you will need to complete your education and work history and provide answers to shortlisting questions. Your answers to the shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our guidance here Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.

Additional information

Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.

We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.

For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us

Company information

Encouraging a diverse workforce

Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.

Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and How we create a fair and inclusive workplace.