MorePeople is to be joined by Helen Brent as its new horticultural training manager of the specialist training business MorePerformance.

Brent is an experienced horticulturalist whose career has taken in both the commercial and amenity sectors. She holds an MBA from the University of Essex, a BSc in Horticulture from Writtle College and has held managerial positions with both The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and English Heritage. For the last few years she has run her own horticultural training and consultancy business.

Meanwhile MorePeople have joined up to create a customer-focused training programme to ‘educate and inspire’ the retailer’s staff about horticulture.

The ‘Hortilicence’ programme will be operated by training division MorePerformance. Homebase’s project manager for the initiative, Will Caddick, explained: “The programme developed by MorePerformance and ourselves is designed not only to educate but also enthuse our staff about horticulture in general and particularly the product range we offer. Our job is then to channel that enthusiasm into improved customer service levels and give Homebase customers a first class retail experience.”