Industry Skills Gap
The UK Horticultural and Landscaping industries employ hundreds of thousands of people and represents more than £10 billion in GDP. Yet industry experts have identified that many landscapers lack the horticultural skills that are an essential part of landscape projects.
To address this skills gap Capel Manor College approached Gateway Qualifications to extend our range of land-based and garden design qualifications to include Level 3 qualifications in Landscape Construction. These new qualifications aim to ensure that the industry has the highly skilled technical landscapers it needs to provide a professional service to the ever growing commercial market.
Level 3 Landscape Construction Qualifications
The new qualifications at Level 3 provide a progression route from Level 2 horticulture qualifications. They are also suitable for adult learners currently working in the industry who wish to improve their technical and business skills to meet the industry skills gap.
To enable providers to tailor their delivery to full-time or part-time learners, there are Certificate and Diploma sized qualifications available. The Diploma is also graded.
For more detail on each qualification, please visit the appropriate qualification page using the links below:
Gateway Qualifications Level 3 Certificate in Landscape Construction
Gateway Qualifications Level 3 Diploma in Landscape Construction
Support for the new qualifications
The development has been supported by The British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI) and a number of their members have provided input to the qualifications.
Palmstead Nurseries, a wholesale plant supplier with over 50 years’ experience, commented:
“Your new Landscape Construction Diploma Level 3 is an excellent proposal and one we would wholeheartedly support – it is needed.
“There is a need across the industry to have professional hard landscapers who understand the needs of soft (plant based) landscaping and vice versa. Hard landscapers [without the necessary skills are] letting our industry down so anything you can do to improve the understanding gap and education must be applauded and encouraged.”
Sarah Seery, Head of School for Horticulture and Landscaping at Capel Manor College, said:
“We’re incredibly excited to have partnered with Gateway Qualifications and leading trade association, BALI, in the creation of our new Advanced Diploma in Landscape Construction. As London’s leading land-based College, renowned for our exceptional courses in horticulture and landscaping, the opportunity for us to continue innovating in FE and build this course, has been warmly welcomed by the College community and endorsed by employers. Places filled up very quickly, with a great mix of 16-18 year olds and adult learners, further demonstrating the current need for these skills in the industry. In fact, we’re already planning for two cohorts next year!”
If you are interested in running these new qualifications, please contact us.