The partnership between Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and TMUK first began in 1988 and has seen the two organisations collaborate on a designated local wildlife site at TMUK’s vehicle manufacturing site in Burnaston, as well as habitat management, surveys, ecological advice, and Green Grid Surveys, including bird, butterfly, bee and plant species.
The event hosted by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust at the Burnaston site was an opportunity for the Trust to showcase how it works closely with TMUK to manage the company’s land for nature and offer advice and inspiration to other local companies on developing their land for nature and ways to involve their employees.
Businesses heard about the many successes that have been achieved through the collaboration, including the network of green corridors established in 2013 and the introduction of British wildflower meadow, native hedgerow, and mini wood across the site, as well as the challenges and setbacks experienced and future plans for biodiversity at TMUK
Phoebe Cox, Consultancy Development Manager at Derbyshire Wildlife Trust said:
“We were thrilled to welcome so many local businesses to the event to hear about all the amazing work we have been doing for wildlife across their site at Burnaston through our longstanding partnership with TMUK.
“The experienced and dedicated team behind Wild Solutions, the ecological consultancy and ecosystem service provider within Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, were on hand at the event to speak to business about how we can explore ways to restore nature across their sites too.
“We want to work with as many people and organisations as possible to provide end-to-end nature-based solutions - from ideation and project development to delivery and practical implementation - with nature recovery at the heart of them, so we were excited to see how inspired people at the event seemed about the prospect of working for us in the future.”
Andrew Heaphy, General Manager at Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK added:
“Hosting the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust Corporate Day at Burnaston was a fantastic opportunity to showcase our biodiversity initiatives to local companies looking to improve their own sites. TMUK are recognised as one of the lead plants for the In Harmony with Nature TMC challenge and to be able to share our achievements and future ambition outside of Toyota was really beneficial. Gathering the opinions and ideas of others will provide fresh input to our initiatives and we look forward sharing our progress at similar events with the Trust in the future”
Claire Hollingshurst, Quality Systems Manager at Lubizol Ltd said:
“I thoroughly enjoyed the day and visit at Toyota. Even in the rain the site and nature were amazing!
“Following on from this event I am excited to find out more about the Nature Recovery Advice Consultation at Derbyshire Wildlife Trust for our site and more ways that we can support the Trust and the work it does through our Building Global Bonds volunteering activities.
“A group of 12 of our employees recently volunteered at the Trust’s project to restore Aqueduct Cottage on Cromford Canal and we look forward to finding more ways to support them in the future. Thanks so much to all at Derbyshire Wildlife Trust for doing such a great job for nature.”
For more information about Nature Recovery Advice and Services form Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, please contact wildsolutions@derbyshirewt.co.uk.