---

 

Mark Walker Grounds Maintenance is committed to reducing our carbon footprint and below are some of the ways we are working towards it.

• Our office is fitted with solar panels and the excess renewable energy generated over the last 18 months can boil over 26,000 kettles! (That’s a lot of tea)

 

• We have invested in a new pool car which emits 98g/km co2 and purchased 3 new vans to replace old less environmentally friendly vehicles. With new scheduling technology, we are now able to make our maintenance routes more economic by working out their shortest possible routes.  As a result the average MPG of each vehicle is 5% better than last year.

 

Mark Walker complies with BSI ISO 14001 (Environmental Management), and will continue to be environmentally friendly in years to come as we love our green earth and hope you do too.

If you’re  interested in what we can offer, please contact us or call on 01438 716 068

A break from our winter gritting has allowed us to undertake some in-house refresher training.

Our Supervisors have over 60 years of horticultural experience and they have been sharing their horticultural knowledge and best practice to improve the proficiency of our work force. Training has covered specific machinery as well as general maintenance techniques which our Operatives will use when undertaking extensive shrub border maintenance over winter that will include thinning, reducing, separating, and formative pruning of shrubs and hedges. If you want to know what we are up to, feel free to talk to one of the team members on site. Just remember to bring the tea! 🙂

Having commenced several significant contracts in April 2014, we have invested in new plant, machinery and staff. A new 100 horsepower tractor and rotary ride-on mower join our fleet of commercial grounds maintenance equipment and are used by highly experienced Operatives. We have taken on several new employees, including two apprentices studying at Capel Manor College, and are still looking for staff to join our growing business. If you are looking for a rewarding role maintaining a wide variety of sites, check out our Recruitment page and get in touch.

We have been very busy since January and initial financial reports indicate we have had our most successful year of trading. We have also been successful with a number of tenders this summer including a contract in Kent, an area not previously attended by our teams. We are continually seeking to expand our operations across the South of England so keep and eye out, one of our teams may be in your area soon!

Once again this Christmas the company chose to send electronic Christmas cards to its suppliers and clients and donate the money typically spent to charitable causes. This year’s charities are the Endeavour School in Brentwood, Essex and Home-Start in Slough.

Having been impressed with demonstrations on the commercial capabilities of the Pellenc range of electric machinery, Mark Walker (Grounds Maintenance) has invested in a range of tools to serve a number of new clients where noise would typically be a nuisance.

These machines were sourced as part of our commitment to environmental sustainability and, as the battery packs are charged from solar panels at our main depot in Hertfordshire, they are completely carbon neutral. For an equivalent petrol hedge cutter this equates to a saving of over five tonnes of CO2 per year!

Not only are these machines functional and environmentally friendly, they are extremely user friendly and tackle some of the issues associated with conventional petrol machines. See the Pellenc website here for more information!

This year, for the first time, Mark Walker (Grounds Maintenance) sent electronic Christmas cards instead of traditional paper cards. The money typically spent was donated to our 2011 charitable causes with each organisation receiving a £250 cheque. These local and national charities have helped the families of current employees during difficult times and we are proud to contribute to their devotion and dedication.

 

To satisfy the increasing demand for snow clearing and gritting services, Mark Walker (Grounds Maintenance) has invested in improved storage facilities and recently took delivery of our largest grit order to date. Our quality white and brown rock salt is sourced from British mines and our capacity now exceeds several hundred tonnes.

If you would like gritting or snow clearing services please contact us for a competitive quote.

As part of our commitment to ISO 14001 we have recently installed 45 high efficiency photovoltaic solar panels on to the roof our main depot in Welwyn, Hertfordshire. These panels will not only offset the power consumption of our building but also generate excess ‘green’ energy for many years to come, helping to increase renewable energy stocks.

We estimate that after only a few months in operation we will have completely offset our entire power consumption since moving into the building in December 2010.

Mark Walker (GM) is proud to announce that our efforts to improve our environmental impact have been formally accredited through the BSI group.

Environmental awareness is now integral to our business and our impact on the environment is monitored, recorded and audited to ensure we minimise our carbon footprint to safeguard the environment for the future.