New Zealand tree doctors take root in Southeast Asia
From Business New Zealand January 16, 2012
Few nations can boast of effective use of green space and national parks in its city centre, but Singapore is one of them. And when it comes to maximising limited space into world class outdoor parks, Singapore's Centre for Urban Greenery (CUGE) are the experts.
CUGE, jointly established by the National Parks Board and the Singapore Workforce Development Agency, are now using New Zealand company, Thoughtplanters to develop staff skills and qualifications in areas such as the cultivation and management of trees, otherwise known as arboriculture.
"Thoughtplanters' trainers are specialists in their particular subject field, and we had a shortage of such specialists for training in Singapore," says P Teva Raj, director of CUGE.
The company has been instrumental in building educational frameworks for staff across the park and helping educate industry professionals, such as during a productivity study visit to New Zealand last year by industry stakeholders.
They are professional and have a great track record," he says.
"They were willing to come in and help us get our programmes going and were committed to our concept of transferring knowledge and expertise to Singaporeans. They helped to build up a pool of local trainers."
The company's modus operandi of providing highly skilled in-house training is relatively new in Southeast Asia, despite its prevalence in other parts of the world through polytechnic courses and apprenticeships. This is due to the relatively low cost of hiring unskilled, transient workers in Asia.
However Thoughtplanters director, Richard Wanhill, said this culture is changing in conjunction with the realisation that quality can also be a cost-saver due to higher productivity.
"Our challenge is to show the decision-makers that there is another way," he says.
Through horticultural and arboriculture skills training and refresher courses, as well as management and leadership training by experienced staff, the company gives long-term benefits to local workers and their employers.
"There are plenty of people with a high level of theoretical knowledge but less with hands-on experience. We train people using people who work in the industry," says Mr Wanhill.
The Thoughtplanters directors have done the hard yards in the field - between the five of them, they have around 100 years experience. While experience and training makes all the difference in quality for the trees, it is also a cost effective.
"With pruning, a tree might be visited twice a year. If was done properly by trained staff, it might only need to be done once every two years. It's spending money to save money," says Mr Wanhill.
One of the challenges is convincing local companies that have access to cheap labour that it is worth the investment, says Mr Wanhill.
"A trained worker can be seven times more productive and the end result is better quality; and an educated staff member is also more likely to stay. That worker is then going to take more care and understand the needs of the tree better.
"As workers' safety becomes increasingly important, there is also the need for proper training of staff. Asia has a much higher rate of incidents than in New Zealand because many staff are not as widely trained on how to work safely in trees."
The company plans to continue to grow through Asia, building networks and delivering a quality service.
"The big push is with hotels. They realise the importance of a long term need to have quality grounds, with healthy trees, and trained staff to care for them."
Working through Singapore parks has also been an important step for the company.
"Singapore has a massive amount of influence in the region. Developing nations look to success stories in the region and Singapore is one of them."
Changes to our site
There has been some subtle but important changes to the thoughtplanters and Horttaining websites.
Firstly, thoughtplanters have completed the union with Horttraining NZ Ltd. Staff and systems have been integrated and the phasing out of Horttraining the training entity has begun. The most noticeable thing will be ‘web’ traffic going to the Horttraining site. The site is a holding page with a re-direction notice and link through to this site.
Changes to this site include the creation of a ‘staff portal’ where teaching and training staff will be able to access training guides, teaching information and assessment material.
We have also added a sub-page to the ‘training info’ called Plant ID (Unit 17150). This page is primarily for students and trainees working towards NZQA Unit Standard 17150: Identify trees used in arboriculture. It contains information about the creation and requirements the plant collection section (Element 2) of this unit standard. There are also ten sample plant ID tests of ten plants each. This is to assist in Element 3 of this unit standard with students or trainees needing to correctly identify 100 plants.
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Thoughtplanters becomes a Brand Partner
Thoughtplanters becomes a Brand Partner with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) is the New Zealand Government’s national economic development agency.
NZTE supports businesses to grow internationally with a range of services, programmes and information and with online guides and information. In order to generate the greatest benefits for New Zealand, NZTE works most intensively with businesses that are most likely to succeed.
Thoughtplanters applied for and went under the rigorous assessment process to gain access to NZTE Beachheads programme.
Beachheads is a global, public-private partnership of independent Advisors and NZTE personnel that helps businesses accelerate international growth. Beachheads gives businesses access to the advice of private sector Advisors to help develop and execute their international growth strategy.
As part of our acceptance onto the NZTE Beachheads programme, thoughtplanters has become a NZTE Brand Partner and is now able to include the ‘Fern Mark’ on our marketing material. Being able to use the New Zealand Fern Mark shows that you have reached a standard of excellence, produce quality products and maintain high standards. Only selected New Zealand companies that do business internationally are eligible to become Brand Partners and use the New Zealand Fern Mark.
“It’s a privilege to be supported by NZTE and to be able to use the New Zealand Fern Mark, its humbling and exciting all at the same time” thoughtplanters Business Development Manager, Richard Wanhill said.
Moving up in the world
The thoughtplanters Dunedin office is moving up town and up a few floors.
The new office is located on the 3rd floor of 2 Dowling St. It is easy to find, situated across the road from Queen’s Gardens. 2 Dowling St originally housed the Otago Daily Times from 1879 to 1928, the building has a plenty of history and character.
At this stage all the contact details will remain the same, its just the location that has changed (see - google maps).
Rescue training in the park
The first day was a day of Aerial Rescue filming in conjunction with the Otago Polytechnic’s Arboriculture and film studies departments. Several hours of footage was shot from various angles and soon will be edited into a series short training videos.
The day went very well and was enjoyed by all except Mark Roberts, who was playing the part of the victim; ‘it’s very uncomfortable hanging around awaiting to be rescued, I strongly recommend that no one does it… in a film or in a real life situation’.
The second two days were mainly industry training as requested by the NZ horticulture Industry Training Organisation. With the new NZQA Unit Standards in Advanced Climbing and Advanced Rigging many work place assessors have found themselves half a step behind the training requirements and this course was designed to help bring them up to speed.
Andy Neverman, in keeping with the training culture of thoughtplanters demonstrated various techniques and additional uses of common items of equipment. ‘If you have something, it is better to use it to its full potential than to go out and buy something else to do the same job’.
Single Rope Techniques (SRT) were also discussed in detail including rescue scenarios off single and double rope configurations. The general consensus is that with so many variations and configurations SRT is not something that inexperienced climbers should rush into, and even experienced climbers need to know exactly what they are doing before the start accessing trees using SRT.
International training goes down a treat
The conference, ‘Trees Down Under’ showcased trees from Australia and the Southern Hemisphere and attracted people from all over the world. Andy and Brett gave a presentation on maximising the use of climbing equipment. They demonstrated that by changing the configuration of commonly used items of climbing equipment they could not only improve the efficiency of climbing but potentially save large sums of money too. Needless to say the presentation was very well received.
The 2011 International Tree Climbing Championship (ITCC) was held as part of the conference where NZ climbers were able to take out the top male, top female and top team. Congratulations to Scott Forrest and Chrissy Spence.
Utility Arborist accreditation gained
Thoughtplanters has gained the final NZQA accreditations needed to deliver the new Vegetation Control qualification; National Certificate in Electricity Supply (Utility Arborist) with an optional strand in Insulated Tool Work
“We believe that we are the first and only Private Training Provider (PTE) that has gained the necessary approval from the Electricity Supply Industry Training Organisation and accreditation form the NZ Qualifications Authority” said thoughtplanters Academic Director, Mark Roberts .
This national certificate is awarded to people who have demonstrated competence in the skills and knowledge required for employment in the electricity supply industry as a utility arborist undertaking vegetation control.
This qualification is intended for qualified arborists with sufficient arboriculture work experience to undertake vegetation control in the proximity of electricity supply lines.
Arborists holding this qualification will have sufficient knowledge of electricity systems, health and safety, and electricity industry safety statutes and codes to work safely in the proximity of electricity supply lines. They will also be able to operate elevating work platforms to prune trees around electrical lines, and measure trees and lines for vegetation control around electrical lines.
Arborists who wish to work in close proximity to electrical lines are required to use insulated tools. Holders of this qualification who also have the Insulated Tool Work Optional Strand will have the knowledge and skills required to work with insulated tools.
Advanced Certificate in Arboriculture now running in Singapore
Thoughtplanters is continuing its expansion of training courses in Singapore with the recent completion of the inaugural Advanced Certificate in Arboriculture (ACA).
The course, designed for aspiring supervisors in the landscape / arboriculture sector, is an intensive three-week block. The syllabus covers a range of key tree care principles - providing students with a comprehensive insight into maintenance and management issues.
The course has been established in partnership with Singapore's Centre for Urban Greening and Ecology (CUGE) and is endorsed by the government's Workforce Development Agency (WDA). Both CUGE and WDA see the ACA as a crucial qualification for those supervisors and managers involved in caring for Singapore's trees.
Singapore is world-renowned as a garden city - where extensive lush vegetation is the norm. Singapore is expanding its green natural infrastructure - and this is evident in it's current multi-billion dollar investments in greening programmes and the construction of new parkland and tree-lined landscapes. Since 1986 Singapore has increased its urban tree cover and vegetation by over 12% - an amazing feat for a small island of only 700 square kilometres with a population in excess of 5 million.
Bryan Gould, Horttraining's senior lecturer, presented the Advanced Certificate to a small keen group - the first to step up for the newly-established qualification. "The student's level of interest and enthusiasm was really high" he said. "They finished the block without problems and were looking forward to applying their new-found knowledge and awareness in their workplaces".
Thoughtplanters will be conducting the ACA in Singapore on a regular basis - with plans for a diploma qualification to be announced shortly.