Case Study

Thames Valley Park (TVP) is a high-tech business park on the outskirts of Reading, and home to companies such as Oracle, Microsoft and Sanofi. TVP is a beautiful area in which the innovation offices are set in 80 acres of wetland habitat with walkways and cycleways along the banks of the River Thames, open to the public as well as to the office workers. It’s a place for wildlife too, home to 40 species of birds, with extensive grassland areas and ponds as well as the river.

We have been looking after the grounds at TVP ever since June 2012, and have two permanent staff full-time there. They look after the whole site, including the car park, handling agreed project work and any ad-hoc issues that arise.

Since taking on the contract, the Scofell team has greatly improved the overall appearance of the park, and we continue to come up with ideas for improvements. This includes eradicating weeds with selective herbicide, reseeding verges that were damaged by lorries, renewing topsoil and planning seasonal planting.

Because we are working near offices, we are very aware of the noise made by machinery. We now use battery-operated tools rather than petrol machinery. This has slashed emissions and has greatly reduced noise, and is much appreciated by our office neighbours. In time, we hope to implement solar charging of our tools.