Estate Services Gardener in Reading

Help Keep Our Estates Green, Clean and Welcoming. Love working outdoors? Enjoy creating attractive, well-kept green spaces for residents and communities? As a Gardener at Peabody, you’ll play a key role in delivering a high-quality, customer-focused grounds maintenance service across our estates. You’ll use your horticultural skills, tools and machinery to keep communal areas tidy, safe and welcoming. This is a role where your hard work is seen and appreciated every day. You’ll help maintain vibrant outdoor spaces through seasonal planting, hedge and turf care, weed management and general gardening tasks—contributing to a cleaner, greener environment for our residents.

What You’ll Do

• Carry out scheduled grounds maintenance tasks across estates in line with published programmes.
• Complete seasonal horticultural tasks such as planting, hedge trimming, turf care, weed spraying/weeding and leaf clearance.
• Apply and store chemicals safely in accordance with DEFRA, the Pesticides Regulations Act and company guidelines.
• Operate and maintain manual and powered tools, machinery and equipment safely and correctly.
• Remove and dispose of green waste in line with waste-management procedures.
• Keep estates clean, tidy, weed-free and litter-free in line with grounds maintenance standards.
• Assist with soft and hard landscaping projects.
• Respond to emergencies and report issues requiring specialist attention (e.g. tree works, vandalism, equipment defects).
• Follow all Health & Safety procedures, carrying out security checks and reporting hazards.
• Provide cover for colleagues during absence and maintain high service standards across all sites.

What You’ll Need

• Excellent customer service skills and clear communication (verbal and written).
• Ability to carry out horticultural maintenance using hand tools and mechanical equipment.
• Good literacy and basic numeracy skills.
• Basic knowledge of Health & Safety requirements within estate services.
• Ability to organise your workload with minimal supervision.
• Physically capable of performing moderately strenuous outdoor work in all weather.
• Ability to work well within a team and understand your impact on residents and other services.
• PA1 & PA6a pesticide certificates (desirable but not essential).
• A valid UK driving licence (required).

Who You Are

• Committed to delivering excellent customer experience.
• Dedicated to providing first-class grounds maintenance.
• Professional, personable and proactive in all interactions.
• A strong team player with a flexible and cooperative approach.
• Able to respond appropriately to emergencies and use your initiative.
• Someone who demonstrates Peabody’s values at all times.

Why Join Us?

When you join Peabody, you’re joining a team guided by our values: Be Kind, Do the Right Thing, Love New Ideas, Celebrate Diversity, Keep Our Promises, and Pull Together. We believe in creating a workplace where everyone feels supported, included and empowered.

What We Offer

• 30 days annual leave, plus bank holidays.
• Two paid volunteering days each year.
• Flexible benefits scheme and employee discount portal.
• Life assurance at 4x your salary.
• Up to 10% pension contribution.

Please read before applying. Interviews will be ongoing until no later than Friday 17th April. This is an active outdoor role requiring manual work and the use of a variety of gardening tools and equipment. You must be comfortable working in all weather conditions and committed to maintaining high standards across our estates. This role requires a Basic DBS check. If this sounds like the right role for you and you’d love to be part of Peabody, we’d like to hear from you. Please apply now by submitting an anonymised CV and a short statement explaining why you’re the perfect fit for this role.