Campus Parks and Gardens

The spaces surrounding buildings, i.e. approximately 60 of the 90 hectares of the UNIL campus, are maintained by a team of 10 people (gardeners, market gardeners, landscape gardeners, farmers and apprentices) supervised by the manager of the Parks and Gardens Group.

In groups of 2 or 3, gardeners carry out planned tasks for the year and move around on the site on foot, by bike or electric vehicle – save where heavy equipment needs to be transported.

These professionals have 2 tractors, 4 snow ploughs, a salt spreader, and many picks and shovels. For large-scale work – pruning tall trees, maintaining the forest and rivers – the group cooperates with external firms and also with the relevant cantonal and municipal services (Rivers and Forests, Fauna and Flora, Fisheries, etc). Their work also includes maintaining plants inside buildings and the design of floral decorations for important events, plus the maintenance of sports grounds.
 

Nature developments on the site of the UNIL park have earned the campus the quality label of the Fondation Nature et Economie, in Montreux.

For a number of years already, the Parks and Gardens team has collaborated with UNIL biologists in the fight against parasites. It installs “lures” (sexual bait consisting of sticky plates to which parasites become attached); it distributes pheromones (sexual signals that disorganize their reproduction) or simply cultivates predators of certain parasites and releases them onto the site to feed.

When treatment can no longer be avoided, the policy of the Parks and Gardens group is to favour organic products.
 

All green spaces are managed in an environmentally-friendly way:

• no chemical pesticides (exception for the sports area: traditional management of grounds)
• use of organic products
• organic manure
• no use of compost containing peat
• priority given to indigenous planting (trees, hardy varieties, etc) while retaining the "park" appearance of the campus for the planting of species of horticultural interest.
• protection against invasive plants on the campus and information in the form of notices and via the Unibat website
• maintaining the living heritage: inspection of large trees, expert analyses, plant-care interventions, heritage aspects
• 100% of green waste composted and used on site
• many areas grazed by sheep
• removal of snow on the campus using equipment that ensures correct regulation of salt spreading (reduced consumption)
• compliance with the Gardens Charter