Our client is a beautiful public space between Acton, Brentford, Chiswick and Ealing in West London. Purchased for the nation from the Rothschild family, it was opened to the public by Neville Chamberlain in 1926. A major £50m restoration project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund was completed in 2018, the park and garden is Grade II listed.
The charitable trust's aim is to make the site an outstanding, sustainable green space, celebrating its unique heritage and providing a wide range of educational and cultural activities, events and facilities accessible to all members of the community. Also, to conserve, manage and develop the estate as a sustainable, recreational, cultural, and educational resource for the benefit of, and in partnership with, all of its local communities.
We are delighted to be working with the organisation to recruit a new Park Manager to join the team at this very exciting time in its development.
The role:
This person will have responsibility for the management, maintenance and improvement of the 185 acres of sports, nature areas, heritage parkland and gardens for the benefit of the local community and beyond. This will involve extensive horticultural management responsibilities in addition to a broad range of support, logistical and administrative activities. These will include extensive stakeholder engagement, contract management, finance and budgeting, public health and safety, procurement and team member management and development. This is a very broad role with a wide array of systems management and day to day park management responsibilities. This person will also be a true ambassador for the park, both with members of the public and those who come into contact with the park professionally.
The person:
The successful candidate will have extensive park management experience in a similar sized public park or community green space. They will have experience of managing service contracts, managing in-house teams, developing volunteer and outreach programs and ideally, of successfully applying for grant funding in similar spaces and delivering on these agreements. A warm and approachable person, the ideal candidate will have a genuine passion for park management and involving the public in regular use and patronage of these special green spaces. This person will also be numerate and well-organised with good logistical, administrative and back office management experience.
This person's role as an ambassador for the park can not be overstated, this will be a core aspect of the role and we are looking for someone who genuinely enjoys managing big public parks, green spaces, bio-diversity and preserving these spaces for future generations.
