Biodiversity is second nature at Grundfos

A team of volunteer gardeners and environmental specialists at Castletown-based pump manufacturer Grundfos has worked with two students from Portland Academy to create the sustainable garden.

Grundfos started their special relationship with Portland Academy more than 12 years ago. The academy provides education and life skills to students aged 11 to 19 who have severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties, and Grundfos provides work experience opportunities for Portland students.

Grundfos provides valuable works experience opportunities for Portland students in different departments within the Castletown site. As part of this initiative, eighteen-year-old Portland students Justin Foster and Tanzeela Islam worked with Grundfos team members on the wildlife garden project.

Chris Barnes, Environment, Health and Safety Specialist at Grundfos explained: “We’ve been looking at the biodiversity of our site and we’d already rewilded an area of it to help bring nature back, but wanted to go further.

“We decided the next steps would be to build a bug hotel, hedgehog houses and butterfly houses, and thought it would be a great project for our Portland students Julian and Tanzeela to work on.”

Justin, who has spent a day a week at Grundfos for the past two years, said: “I’ve enjoyed my time here and loved being part of the team building the bug hotel, which I helped paint.”

Tanzeela, who has just completed a year of working a day a week at Grundfos, added: “I normally work in the canteen, but have enjoyed working on the bug hotel and hedgehog houses.”

Josh Smith, a manufacturing engineer and gardening team volunteer at Grundfos, said: “It’s a great initiative and something fun to do away from day-to-day work. My daughter Ivy-Mae, who’s three, helped collect the acorns we needed for the bug hotel.

“We’ve taken a wider biodiversity approach on the site, which has included planting more trees, and our aim has been to bring nature into a manufacturing environment.”

Chris added: “The bug hotel was Josh’s idea and it was built by Josh together with Ben Fox, an information service specialist and Andrew Davey, an environmental team leader. Justin and Tanzeela then did a great job of painting the hotel. Our gardening team then built the houses for hedgehogs and butterflies. Justin has just finished his time with us, so the project has been a lovely way for him to sign off.”

Catherine Attwell, Head of Country and Plant HR in the UK for Grundfos, said: “We value our relationship with Portland Academy and have been delighted to have been able to support the academy by providing works experience opportunities for students at our manufacturing facility.

“Justin and Tanzeela have done a great job and played a part in our wider ambition to increase the biodiversity of our Castletown site. Sustainability and taking care of the environment have long been key priorities for Grundfos, and the wildlife garden project is a great example of what we can do at a local level.”

Grundfos first opened a plant in Washington in 1973, before moving to its current Castletown site in 1980. The company now employs about 170 people in the city and more than 19,000 people globally – making it the world’s leading pump manufacturer.