South Thames AGM Event

This first event is to be held at Merrist Wood College, continuing to build on the great relationship the region has built with the college. This first event is to be held at Merrist Wood College, continuing to build on the great relationship the region has built with the college. The afternoon will consist of the AGM, alongside some diverse industry talks. These will be covering minimising risk in landscape project pricing and a panel discussion debating the pitfalls of fixed price or cost-plus contracts. giving you the opportunity to network and learn.

Schedule one the day:

1:30pm Arrival

1:45pm AGM

2:15pm Sarah Brinkworth, Prison Service Careers Talk

2:45pm Refreshments

3:00pm Sam Hassall, Landpro, Minimising Risk in Landscape project pricing

3:30pm Panel Discussion, Presentation and debate about merits and pitfalls of fixed price or cost-plus contracts. Brian Herbert (Outdoor Options), Jake Catling (The Landscaping Consultants), Sam Hassall, Landpro, James Fish, Bluefish Landscaping Contractors and Dan Flynn, Gardenlink.

4:30pm Finish

Sarah Brinkworth – HM Prison & Probation Service

Recruiting from prisons might not be your first point of call, yet there is a huge talent pool of individuals with a variety of skills in our prisons that can be a great asset to your business. There are a lot of business benefits as to why this is a good avenue to explore. For example, prison leavers go the extra mile, they’re loyal and hardworking plus, we go to great lengths to sift through applications and find you the right candidates; not just anyone. And it costs you nothing to recruit this way!  

It’s often fed back from companies they work with, that such individuals are amongst their best employees, owing solely to them being so grateful that someone believes in them and has offered them an opportunity, which often this isn’t something they’ve often had. Furthermore, by having such individuals in secure sustainable employment following their release, their chances of re-offending greatly diminish – something that’s important for us all.  

There is so much support in prisons for individuals to be job-ready and find work, including obtaining Right to Work documents (birth certificate), photo ID, writing a CV and disclosing their offence (to offer you full transparency), as well as support opening a bank account and undertaking mock interviews. But more than that, the prison team sift through candidates to ensure they have the right attitude and motivation to work. We do this by checking their behaviour and engagement in the regime – are they supportive to other prisons, respectful to staff? Only then, and with the support of their Probation Officer, would you be sent an application to consider and interview.

The support doesn’t stop there! As long as you have a prison leaver working with you, you get full support from the service – in any way that’s required - as ultimately, we want the same as you; to keep them working with you, and not reoffending.

Sam Hassall, Landpro

LandPRO is a specialist organisation dealing with project cost and in both the construct and maintenance sectors of the landscape and external works industry.

Led by Sam Hassall who is a qualified horticulturist and landscape engineer, LandPRO works with both contractors and the design sectors of the industry.

The work with contractors is generally to acquire projects on their behalf. This is achieved by understanding the costs of the project, presenting the workflow to the prospective employer and thus winning the project on behalf of the contractor based on quality and secure pricing.

Their work also entails work for the design community. They evaluate projects so that the employer understands the future cost for proposed projects and has realistic budget expectations. They then prepare tender documentation for the tender process which ensures level playing field tender returns.

LandPRO also designed and markets the Liberate Estimating system which is widely used by successful contractors in both the UK and Australia.