Lewis | February 23, 2015 | 0 Comments
In the spirit of last week’s post relating to own very own landscape architect Rupert Davis, our marketing team was inspired to compose another in relation to another employee here at Oakleigh Manor. This time, the spotlight will be on one of the company directors, Mr Stuart Barten. Cue applause.
From his background of working on a farm during his teenage years, it seems that Mr Barten always knew he would take this agricultural influence and be working in some sort of ground work aspect years later. But it is what he loves. He explains that after leaving college in 1990, he was working in for a number of civil engineering companies in the City. But the 12-hour days and working for large organisations soon took its toll, so much so Stuart went travelling, and when he returned, Oakleigh Manor was born in 1996.
Perhaps a source of passion for him was, while he was working for large civil engineers, at the weekends he would be working in the hard landscaping field, and it could be suggested that this work on garden schemes helped him realise that it was more rewarding. Stuart does go on to say that he wanted to do much more rewarding work, aided people rather than organisations, creating bespoke and personal landscapes for his clients. Even with around two decades of experience, he still feels making people happy is his largest motivational tool. That’s quite an example to set for any youngster looking to enter the landscaping industry.
For this author, what makes Stuart Barten such an interesting guy is his desire to always learn something new; he explains that when he doesn’t understand a certain theory, or how something works for example, he always wants to know and find out. This sort of desire for continuous improvement is central to the Oakleigh Manor ethos, and when it emanates down from the top of the chain of command, it’s easy to apply that ideal.
He’s a very interesting man, and is terrific at what he does. Much like Mr Rupert Davis, it is a pleasure to work with Mr Barten. He’s an example, and his work is central to what exactly makes Oakleigh Manor the prestigious company it is today. Why do I refer to him as a maverick? It’s his free-thinking, outside-of-the-box style that is pivotal to our bespoke designs.
