11 Jan 2010

 

The first "live" Friday of each New Year heralds the NHBC's glamorous Pride in the Job ceremony in which they announce the winners of the PiJ Supreme Awards. For a moment this year I was worried that the UK's best site managers, and their friends and families, would be unable to attend given the snowy conditions - but I should have known better.

These guys - and they were all guys, which is a shame - didn't become the best site managers in the country by worrying about a bit of weather. They were all there, from far and wide, ready to celebrate their achievement, find out who the four overall Supreme Winners were, and drink long into the night.

On a particulalrly cold evening, this was heart warming stuff for all. The site managers, many of them shifting slightly uncomfortably in their hired tux and dodging the limelight bestowed on them by the cameras and big screens, were flanked by partners and friends beaming with delight at the success of their husband/friend/boss.

For those of you who don't know of Pride in the Job, this is the NHBC's long running initiative to find and reward the best site managers in the housebuilding business. The managers are rated throughout the year as part of the NHBC inspection process. Of the thousands of site managers in the UK, 400 are picked as Quality Awards winners.

To be in this 400 must be a hell of an achievement in itself, and a source of great pride. But of these 400, 130 are awarded the Seal of Excellence in their regions. These are pretty special site managers.

So imagine being one of the 33 Regional Award winners that are picked from these 130. These are the site managers that get to go to the London ceremony in January - no wonder they don't get put off by a bit of snow. It really is the case that each one is a housebuilding superstar.

For the four Supreme Awards winners, the sky's the limit - but all 33 contenders are worthy of the highest praise....you really would want one of these guys in charge of building your new home.

One other thing about the awards - UK site managers are a bit like UK football managers, inasmuch as a surprising number of them are Scottish, Irish or Welsh. And the few English accents tend to be Geordies (with the odd 'arry Redknapp thrown in)....I wonder what that's all about?

Either way, they all deserve huge praise - and it was great to be at another upbeat housebuilding event.

For the full list of Regional Award winners click here  

For the Supreme Winners click here

 

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