NHBC’s annual Pride in the Job awards show that despite the recession, uncertainty about public spending and the toughest market conditions for decades, new homes continue to be built to the highest standards in the West region.
Pride in the Job was launched by NHBC in 1980 to recognise the best site managers throughout the country. As the competition celebrates its 30th anniversary its importance in helping to raise standards in the construction of new homes has never been more relevant.
After 18 months of rigorous judging by NHBC Inspectors and Regional Directors, the winners of the 12 Seals of Excellence and four Regional titles were announced at the ICC in Birmingham on 17 September 2010. The Regional winners now go through to compete for the ultimate accolade – the Pride in the Job Supreme Awards to be announced in January.
West Regional Winner in the Large Builder Category:
Simon Jones from Coventry started his career as an apprentice carpenter before training as an engineer and working for eight years on construction sites abroad. He’s been a site manager for Barratt Homes for the last six years and this is his first success in Pride in the Job. He says he is passionate and enthusiastic about providing a product he is proud of and that his ability to promote a good team spirit on site along with being calm in difficult situations has helped him take the regional title.
West Regional Winner in the Medium Builder Category:
Tony Armson from Thringstone is the reigning “Supreme Award” winner in this category and is hoping to make it a hat trick in this 30th anniversary year of Pride in the Job. Tony has been a site manager with William Davis for 39 years and has won Pride in the Job awards at every level for the last decade, all of them for his site at Cawston Fields in Rugby. He is delighted to be going forward to defend his Supreme Award again this year and says Pride in the Job proves that high standards can be maintained in a difficult market.
West Regional Winner in the Small Builder Category:
Andrew Jennings from Solihull is a Co-Director of Peter Jennings Ltd with his father and brother. He’s been in the industry for 22 years and has a degree in civil engineering from Leeds University. He says he enjoys tackling problems on site and developing simple effective solutions. His commitment to improving the local environment and creating homes that will outlast him is what drives him and helps him motivate his team to build to the highest standards.
West Regional Winner in the Multi-storey Category:
Geoff Hale from Walsall took the West Regional Pride in the Job title in 2007 and 2008 and is hoping that the 30th anniversary of the competition will see him succeed in the Supreme Awards. He’s been owner and site manager of First Post Homes for 25 years so it looks set to be a year of celebrations all round. Geoff says he’s delighted to receive another award in this prestigious competition and that this achievement means the world to him and his team. He says they have all worked extremely hard in a challenging market to continue to keep the build quality as high as ever.
Peter Watton, NHBC’s Regional Director for the West Region, said: “Pride in the Job tests a site manager’s commitment to quality. Only those who demonstrate exceptional standards in every aspect of their work on site and in the homes they build will succeed.
“The winners in the NHBC West Region have proved their commitment to excellence having been selected from almost 13,000 site managers across the UK. As well as carrying out spot checks of the day-to-day running of the site, each site manager is assessed across 38 areas of site management including their technical knowledge, consistency in the build process, leadership and organisational skills.
“Quality construction is the product of hard work, planning, leadership and technical expertise and I am delighted that as we celebrate 30 years of Pride in the Job, site managers in this region remain committed to making sure their customers buy homes of the highest quality. They are doing a great job in extremely challenging times.
“NHBC is proud to be celebrating the 30th anniversary of the industry's only competition that rewards and recognises the work of site managers.”
