Landscape & Grounds Maintenance

The Facilities Management team look after an award-winning estate spread across 105 Hectares. The site borders the Lough Corrib Special Area of Conservation and is likely to be one of the most biodiverse campus in Ireland. Our team of gardeners and ground staff work hard to ensure the campus is clean and presentable but at the same time ensure that we protect and nurture our plants and wildlife.

All Ireland Pollinator Plan

University of Galway are a proud signatory to the All Ireland Pollinator Plan 2021-25 which seeks to restore, protect, and provide additional habitats for bees and other pollinating insects. It is a key component of our Biodiversity Action Plan. To date we have implemented a wide range of actions on campus in line with the plan including:

Reducing mowing regimes to enable growth of pollinator friendly plants
Creating designated meadows around Dangan Sports ground
Reducing pesticide use
Installing signage to inform community that these areas are being managed as part of the Pollinator Plan

Biodiversity Action Plan

In 2020 we created a Biodiversity Action Plan to set out our goals and actions to improve biodiversity on campus. These include:

Leaving areas of the campus unmown to provide nectar and pollen sources for pollinators
Set aside grassland patches for wildflower research
Obtain plants from local genetic stock
Erect and monitor insect hotels around the grounds
Collaborate with Ecology/Zoology/Botany and Plant Science Schools to determine the invertebrate and floral diversity of wetlands on campus
Collaborate with researchers to reuse food waste as compost and fertilizer
Install Swift bird & bat nest boxes

Green Flag Award for Parks & Gardens

The Green Flag Award scheme recognises and rewards well managed parks and green spaces, setting the benchmark standard for the management of recreational outdoor spaces around the world.

Purpose & aims

To ensure that everybody has access to quality green and other open spaces, irrespective of where they live
To ensure that these spaces are appropriately managed and meet the needs of the communities that they serve
To establish standards of good management
To promote and share good practice amongst the green space sector
To recognise and reward the hard work of managers, staff and volunteers

University of Galway were delighted to be awarded the Green Flag in 2020 and have recently retained it again in 2021, recognising the ongoing improvements we are making to our green spaces on campus.