Corporate Volunteer Opportunities

Corporate involvement along the Water of Leith offers your team a chance to develop through interesting outdoor experiences and fun-packed activities, while investing in the community and helping to conserve Edinburgh’s most significant wildlife corridor.

Blackrock
Baillie Gifford
ChangeWorks
Sainsbury's

What does a Conservation Task involve for your employees?

We use teams of volunteers from your business to help deliver environmental improvement projects in the Water of Leith Valley.  Generally, we go to a stretch of river in need of improvement and work as a team to benefit the wildlife and people in that area.  Your team may be based anywhere along the thirteen miles of river that passes through the city.  This could be very close to the centre of town or the location of your business.  Wherever they are working, you can be assured that your employees will be engaged in completing tasks that they will enjoy while helping their local environment. 

We offer a range of activities that will suit all levels of fitness and abilities, including:  

Tasks may include:

  • River clean-ups
  • Invasive plant species removal
  • Path maintenance
  • Maintenance or construction of walkway structures such as fences, handrails and steps
  • Native planting trees / seeds / plugs / bulbs
  • Meadow management
  • Gardening or maintenance in one of our wildlife gardens
  • Creating education areas
  • Habitat creation projects

Benefits to your Team

Working with The Water of Leith Conservation Trust on Edinburgh’s River gives your staff the chance to make a positive difference to a familiar local environment in which they live and work.

The outdoor experience is a perfect opportunity for individuals to work as a team in a totally different setting. Often friendships are formed both within the group as well as with the local community. Our experienced knowledgeable staff know the river and its ecology extremely well and can act as a wildlife guide throughout the day, as well as a task leader.

Conservation work can provide a great backdrop to staff training and development. This in turn can boost team morale, motivation, help with stress management and be a lot of fun. It’s an excellent opportunity to demonstrate through social media channels that your business has a commitment to corporate responsibility and climate change resilience by allowing your staff to work in their local outdoor environment strengthening biodiversity.

Running Your Employee Action Day

It’s easy for your team to become involved as we provide an experienced member of staff to prepare and lead the group, and provide all the equipment and materials.  We risk-assess all task and provide both health and safety briefings and tool talks for the staff involved.  Site visits are organised upon request.  An experienced and knowledgable leader will accompany your team during the day to ensure work is carried out safely and effectively. 

Costs incurred by The Water of Leith Conservation Trust include project planning and set up expenses, full risk-assessment and insurance, provision of tools, safety equipment and supervision by a trained and knowledgeable project leader.

The Water of Leith is committed to full cost recovery, which enables our activities to be sustainable.  Costs vary depending on the project, lunch provision and number of people involved but we give you a written estimate in the booking form before you are asked to make any commitment.

How much does it cost?

The following provides an indication of cost for a day-long conservation task on the river, which is preferred, however we can offer half day sessions by special request

10 people (minimum) – 25 people (maximum) per event
Full day £50 per person (minimum charge £500)
Half day £25 per person (minimum charge £250)

Tea, coffee and biscuits are complimentary but we ask that all individuals bring a packed lunch. Alternatively, lunch can be provided at a charge per head.  Purchase of extra equipment and materials such as tools, health and safety equipment, plants etc will be in addition to these prices but will only be bought if required.  Gloves and anti-bacterial hand wipes are always necessary.  A fee recouping total costs will apply if a cancellation is made ten days or less before the date of the task.  In the case of severe weather, rescheduling without charge will apply.

More Information & Availability

For further information, please contact our Conservation Team on 0131 455 7367 or drop us an email on [email protected]

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