Botanic and Historic Gardens Skills Crisis

Gardener at Brodsworth Hall - Shaun Flannery Photography Ltd 2005. 

Research shows that the historic and botanic garden sector is now at severe risk from an increasing shortage of vital skills, a danger that is exacerbated by an aging workforce.  English Heritage jointly funded this research published by Lantra December 2005, the Sector Skills Council for the environmental and land-based sector, which represents the training and development interests of over 230,000 businesses. 

Heritage and Botanic Gardens Report: Project to map careers, occupations and skills required for the management and maintenance of botanic and gistoric gardens. (pdf report)

Brodsworth Hall Victorian Garden - Shaun Flannery Photography Ltd 2005. 

Cultivating skills in historic and botanic gardens: Highlights of a report mapping careers and skills needs of the botanic and historic gardens sector. (Pdf report)

Heritage Botanic Reports Annex. (pdf report)

The 2004 report Parks Need People Need Parks shows that parks departments are struggling in the face of a serious skills shortage affecting staff from senior management to operational levels.

Grow
Grow, an online resource to inform people about horticulture careers and the range of opportunities available in the sector, was launched November 2008. The initiative was set up by 12 organisations, including English Heritage, to look at ways of marketing career opportunities within the sector. Chris Beardshaw, presenter, author and commercial grower, is acting as a figurehead for the initiative. Horticulture Week are partnering the Grow initiative and are providing support for the development and continuous updating of the website and its content, including sector vacancies and features on individual career profiles. More information can be found on the Grow  web site.