UK Landscaping – The Paxman Perspective
2014 brought new challenges but with these came great promise, strong partnerships and a strengthening of business strategy for Paxman Landscapes. Here’s our 2014 UK Landscaping Review…
On the back of a year of development in 2013 in terms of business structure, personnel and marketing strategy, we embraced the New Year wholeheartedly and surged forward with our increase in public profile and commitment to networking and seeking out new partnerships.
With a buoyant workload in the New Year hampered by what felt like a continuous deluge in January and February, new contracts commenced across the North and further afield, with projects running concurrently in Sunderland, Yorkshire and the South East. We also started to see an increase in domestic enquiries, although the conversion of these has still be difficult as homeowners’ budgets remain tight.
We supported our local community as team and event sponsors for a local school, local rugby team and our continued investment into player sponsorship at Huddersfield Giants (come on you Giants!).
With an expanding portfolio of commercial clients, our projects took on a broader spectrum of services with the team providing the full service spectrum from landscape consultancy to design and both hard and soft landscaping contracting. Our grounds maintenance services had also gained momentum, with the team managing estates and landscapes at schools, colleges and amenity landscapes across the region.
We’ve seen a large increase in tender enquiries commercially but the sector remains equally competitive, with the worrying trend to “value engineer” the landscaping element of construction gathering pace.
The first few months after the launch of the GrassGreener artificial lawn range and installation service saw encouraging interest and new projects became reality in the Spring – an impressive array of private domestic front and rear gardens could now boast the most perfect of lawns, all year round.
After months’ of preparation from the creation of the Show Garden’s theme to its meticulous planning, sourcing of materials and eventual construction on site, our Tropical Dream Courtyard came to life in April at the Harrogate Spring Flower Show. A true highlight of our year, this was a real chance for us to shine – and shine we did, with a Silver-Gilt Award. It was a true credit to everyone involved, from concept to completion and beyond and a great opportunity to showcase Paxman Landscapes’ capabilities as well as GrassGreener’s versatility and attraction.
Throughout the year, we’ve been developing landscaping schemes from superstores, showrooms, residential care homes, housing developments and university grounds, both in the North and with some prestigious projects in the South. With each scheme, it is the teamwork at Paxman Landscapes that shines through. We have had personnel changes and new faces joining the team and we continue to commit to training and development for all staff and to engage and develop our apprentices.
Promoting our service levels, range and commitment to the provision of quality landscaping, both commercially and domestically, we have cemented a public profile as a key influencer within our industry and marketplace. A higher presence in the media has given us some great opportunities to speak at events throughout the year, earning us well-deserved accolades and media coverage along the way.
The end of 2014 has seen us look once again to the future. Our development of new winter services is taking off in earnest and we are seeking to expand our management team to ensure continuity and development can continue well into 2015 and beyond. Sourcing soft landscaping material has become a much more selective process and we continue to keep a close eye on profitability by refining this and all operational processes.
From all of us at Paxman Landscapes, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a positive, successful New Year.
JUSTIN PAXMAN, Managing Director
P.S. See our 2014 Review in pictures, too.
