Parks, Landscape & Urban Design

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  • 1.  IPWEA VIC Professional Development Seminar Series

    Posted 24-10-2013 12:01
    Dear Colleagues,
    I am preparing for the Victorian Division a 1 day seminar on Parks Operational Management to be held in Q1 next year as part of an ongoing professional development program and I would be delighted to hear from anyone with suggestions of practical examples of the implementation of new technology or work practice which could be presented as case studies and any suggestions for leads for presenters and/or sponsors.

    You mau have a great story to tell in this area of activity and be willing to join me in presenting on the day, that would be great and I would like to hear from you.

    I look forward to hearing from you.
    Regards

    Bruce
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    Bruce Douglas
    Sholcons Consulting
    Balnarring Beach VIC

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  • 2.  RE:IPWEA VIC Professional Development Seminar Series

    Posted 24-10-2013 12:38
    Hi Bruce,

    For what it's worth, grounds (& parks management) has tended to be judged qualitatively and understandably perceptions can vary greatly. As part of a new service contract model adopted at the University, we've been successfully employing a Condition Assessment Software Tool for our grounds management that allows us to quantitatively score our assets (e.g. Garden beds, amenity lawns, sporting ovals) on pre-defined outcomes. This acts as a Key Performance Indicator also for our service contractor with agreed targets and intervention levels. We started out using a spreadsheet for the process but soon migrated to a mobile computing platform using GIS referenced software utilising ArcPad. We've had help from specialist vendors in putting together the Tool and it's probably custom-designed to suit our requirements but there's no reason why it can't be adopted by others. I should say I have no commercial interest in spruiking the Tool but am just a happy user and can certainly see the benefits for our industry as a whole. 

    Haven't heard whether municipalities have adopted similar approaches but happy to share our experiences and learnings. You can contact me via email if you are interested:
      Mark.Corea@monash.edu

    Cheers.

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    Mark Corea
    Grounds Curator
    Monash University
    Clayton VIC

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  • 3.  RE:IPWEA VIC Professional Development Seminar Series

    Posted 27-10-2013 00:22
    Good morning,

    Mark, aside from the mobile technology which sounds very promising, would you be willing to share the assessment methodology and performance indicators for various grounds and landscapes?

    We have a good public perception survey, taken annually and look to add more objective condition assessments.

    Anything that you can share would be appreciated.


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    Randy Webster
    Strategy & Performance Manager
    City of Portland
    Portland OR

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