Grounds Maintenance

There are two distinct strands to the work of the section, the first being the maintenance for the campus landscape, which includes all grassed and shrub areas, paths and hedges, trees and woodland margins, and of course the lake. The second is the maintenance of grass and all-weather sports surfaces. The present establishment of the section is 10 staff comprising of 6 gardeners and 4 sports fields staff, including both the Head Gardener and Head Grounds person

The University estate is approximately 87 hectares in size. 20% of this area is utilised by building footprint and hard surfaces such as car parks, but this still leaves a great deal for the section to maintain. There is around 213,000 m2 of grass to cut at various frequencies, 13,000 m2 of shrub beds to tend and 4,000 linear metres of hedge to keep trimmed. In 2005 the University campus was entered in the Yorkshire in Bloom competition for the first time in the category Universities, Colleges and Further Education establishments. The campus achieved a silver award which it is hoped can be improved on this year.

Trees are a major feature of the landscape at York and, particularly through the winter months the section's work is taken up with their maintenance, whether this is pruning or simply collecting the huge volume of leaf litter deposited by them annually. In 2007 a campus wide tree survey was undertaken to primarily report on condition. This formed the basis of a 5 year maintenance plan for the tree stock

The lake is a very important feature of the campus. It's total surface area is over 50,000 m2 with a capacity of 69,000 m3 (14 million gallons) of water. It is the responsibility of the Grounds Section to maintain the lake and improve its currently stressed eco-system . Part of this maintenance work includes the husbandry of the large wildfowl population which the lake supports, such as feeding through the winter months dealing with sick or injured birds and retrieving and disposing of fatalities.

The Grounds Staff also carry out the clearing of snow and gritting of major access routes across campus. The following links are to the Estates Severe Weather Policy and a Plan showing those routes.

Please use the links below which outline action we will take during severe winter weather spells

Estates Snow Clearing and Gritting Policy (Word)

Severe Weather Site Plan - Hes West (pdf)

Severe Weather Site Plan - Hes East (pdf)

 

 

 

 

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