We are looking for a person with excellent gardening and people skills to become our new Garden and Greenspaces Co-ordinator. The postholder will play a central role in helping us to build Woodlands into an attractive and creative community where people connect with each other and thrive.

Woodlands Community Garden opened in 2010, occupying a vacant site in West Princes Street. Since then, it has become an important local space where people make new friends and feel part of the community. It’s also a great place to unwind from the everyday stresses and strains of city life. Each year, around 45 households grow their own fruit, vegetables, and herbs in the garden’s raised beds. The garden is also the focus of many projects that we run with local partners - and both during and since the pandemic has provided an outdoor space for our nature and wellbeing programme. In 2021 it was recognised as the ‘Best Community Garden in the UK’ in the Cultivation Street Awards, the second time it has won this accolade.

The main purpose of this role is to - physically manage our Woodlands Community Garden site so that it can be safely and regularly used as a venue and meeting space for community and other groups. - further develop Woodlands Community Garden as an outdoor centre for health and wellbeing - facilitate and co-ordinate garden events, partnerships and volunteer opportunities that contribute to our aims of integrating social wellbeing and the environment. - oversee the annual allocation of raised beds at the community garden, respond to queries from growers and provide practical garden support and training.

As well as working in our main community garden, the postholder will also co-ordinate environmental improvements at Willowbank Garden, Millenium Park and look after the garden areas of our Ashley Street premises.

The successful candidate will have previous experience of managing a community garden and be skilled in both hands-on gardening and practical maintenance work. They will have excellent interpersonal skills, experience of developing volunteer systems and also be adept in organising events. They will be able to communicate well with people from a range of different backgrounds, work flexibly within a small team and be both able to work on their own initiative and manage a busy workload.

This is an exciting and varied role and a real opportunity to contribute to the core activities of an innovative and successful charity. The post is fully funded until March 2025, with partial funding already secured for 2025-6.

It is currently offered as a 24 hour per week post, but with the potential for more hours if funding allows.

Terms and Conditions

HOURS: 24 hours per week. Regular evening and weekend work is required.

The post may be suitable for annualised hours or adjustments in the hours for seasonal working, e.g. working more hours in spring/summer which are peak gardening times and less hours over the winter.

The working pattern will be negotiated with the successful candidate, but it should be noted that Sunday is a well-established core day for our garden volunteer activities.

SALARY:£28,013 (pro-rata). A pay review is due in autumn of 2024.

PLACE OF WORK:The postholder will principally work on site at Woodlands Community Garden on West Princes Street. It is a largely outdoor post. Our office base is situated 1 minutes walk from the garden at Visibility Scotland, 2 Queens Crescent G4 9BW.

An element of homeworking for administrative tasks is allowed, but the expectation is that the postholder will be on site and/or working from our office for most of their hours.

CONTRACT:The post is offered on a 2 year fixed term contract, initially until 31st March 2025.

Subject to confirmation of funding, the post is expected to be extended further. We already have 50% funding in place for 2025-6. It is also possible that hours will be increased if funding allows.

HOLIDAY:We offer an annual leave entitlement of 36 days per year (pro-rata).

PENSION:We offer a NEST Workplace Pension scheme with a 5% employers contribution.

We are looking for a person with excellent management, communication, marketing and administration skills to become our Community Facilities Manager. The postholder will play a central role in helping us build Woodlands into an attractive and creative community where people connect with each other and thrive.

The primary purpose of this role is to manage bookings and activities taking place at our Community Meeting Room and Events Terrace at 66 Ashley Street, G3 6HW. However, the postholder will also assist Woodlands Community’s Manager on health and safety and staffing issues as well as contribute to our plans for further building improvements at the lower level of the Ashley Street site.

Our Community Meeting Room opened in 2017, and an outdoor Events Terrace was added just before the start of the pandemic in early 2020. Both the Meeting Room and Terrace act as the main hub for our own community activities as well as being hired out as an affordable events space to a wide range of organisations. Since our meeting room re-opened (post Covid) in March 2022 it has been let out to over 40 different hirers – ranging from local residents, community organisations, charities, student groups and private sector businesses.

The Community Facilities Manager acts as the first point of contact for external hirers, manages bookings via an online booking system and promotes activities through both social media and printed resources. They support our Finance Manager to ensure payments for bookings are kept up to date and work closely with our other project staff to ensure smooth planning and delivery of events on site. They currently provide line management support to two members of staff and take a lead role in implementing onsite practices relating to health and safety.

The successful candidate will have previous experience of helping to look after a community facility. They will have excellent interpersonal skills, experience of line managing staff, be able to manage a varied workload and also be adept in managing budgets. They will be able to communicate well with people from a range of different backgrounds, work flexibly within a small team and build successful partnerships and relationships with organisations across different sectors.

This is an exciting and varied role and a real opportunity to contribute to the core activities of an innovative and successful charity. Although initially only funded for 12 months, we see this very much as a long-term post with the potential to expand over time.