Green fingers in demand

Shortage oftalent with boomin gardening,landscape projects
Lin Yanqin, Today Online 29 Aug 08;

THERE are plenty of creative ways to add green space in Singapore, such as roof gardens. But before Singapore grows in the space set aside for parks and gardens by a quarter, as announced in the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Leisure Plan in May, more talent is needed to support such growth in the sector.

Behind Singapore’s Garden City reputation, some 19,000 professionals — ranging from landscape architects to horticulturists — are hard at work growing green spaces and keeping them thriving.

But that number is barely enough, say industry experts.

“Due to the expanding horticulture and landscape industries, there is a shortage of trained and skilled manpower in these areas. Many of our graduates are offered jobs before they graduate,” said Dr Hedy Goh, deputy director of Ngee Ann Polytechnic School of Life Sciences and Chemical Technology, which offers a diploma in Horticulture and Landscape Management.

Far Horizon Nursery and Landscape managing director John Gwee said that although manpower shortage has been always been a problem, the amping up of landscaping activities in Singapore recently — new condominiums, the integrated resorts, the planned Gardens by the Bay at Marina — means he now sees more work than he can handle.

“I specialise in private homes, but even if I wanted to take on bigger projects, I won’t be able to handle them because I don’t have enough workers,” said Mr Gwee, who is also president of Singapore’s Institute of Parks and Recreation.

At the national level, the plans are to grow Singapore’s park spaces from covering9 per cent of the island, to more than 11 per cent over the next 15 years.

To support the growth of the industry, the Workforce Development Agency developed the Landscape Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) framework and set up the Centre for Urban Greenary and Ecology (Cuge) with the National Parks Board as the flagship institute for training landscape workers.

As of last month, the centre has certified more than 1,100 workers under the WSQ, close to about 12 per cent of the local workforce. “Cuge is on track to certify 20 per cent of the workforce by the end of 2009, as more employers recognise the benefits of staff training,” said centre director Teva Raj.

The challenge to training workers, he said, was getting employers to recognise the benefits. Also, workers may job-hop after companies invest in their training. Attracting talent to the industry is also an issue.

Mr Henry Steed, director of landscaping firm ICN Design International, agreed, saying: “It’s a job with a lot manual labour involved and there’s technique involved, so there’s a challenge in getting people interested.”