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Bovis Homes picks up national award for Armed Forces support

- 12 Sep 17

House builder Bovis Homes has been recognised with a national award in acknowledgement of its commitment and support for UK Armed Forces personnel.

The Silver Award from the Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) was presented in a special ceremony aboard HMS Victory in Portsmouth Harbour, by Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire, Mr Nigel Atkinson.

The award is presented to organisations that promote service issues, communicate positively to their staff on the Forces, and support the employment of military people.

It follows a Bronze Award in 2016, and comes almost a year to the day after the company signed the Armed Forces Covenant. At the same time, the company also launched a unique discount scheme aimed at helping service personnel to buy a new
Jill Altham and Keith Carnegie aboard HMS Victory
home.

Bovis Homes Executive Director, Keith Carnegie, who accepted the award on behalf of the business, says: "Everyone at Bovis Homes is delighted to receive this award and we are all very proud of our close relationship with the Ministry of Defence. We look forward to continuing this long standing association and will always look to promote and support the great work our Forces do any way we can."

The company's special guest at the ceremony was Jill Altham, Customer Care Manager in its West Midlands region. Jill sadly lost her son, Rifleman Joseph Murphy, in Afghanistan in 2009.

"I felt really humbled to attend this amazing event, and being around military personnel always makes me feel closer to Joe," she said.

"I'm obviously enormously proud of his achievements as a soldier and of Bovis Homes for all they've done to support servicemen and women just like him. It's important that we remember those who tragically lost their lives, but also those injured in combat and those who transition into civilian life having given many years in service of their country. There's always more to do, but today I'm just very proud."

In the last 12 months, Bovis Homes has taken part in a variety of events aimed at equipping Forces personnel for civilian life, such as a Life Skills fair at Tidworth Garrison, and has supported a number of other initiatives including fundraising for the SSAFA Big Brew Up event and sponsoring the RAF Police Rugby team.

It has also continued its policy of helping ex-servicemen and women find new roles in the company through the Career Transition Partnership (CTP), and supporting staff members who choose to be members of the Reserve forces.

Many military homebuyers have already taken advantage of the unique forces purchase assistance scheme, which has now been available for almost a year and is open to serving forces personnel, both regular and reservists. It allows service personnel to combine buyer assistance schemes with a package of offers from the company, in order to purchase their own Bovis Home as simply and affordably as possible.

For more information on this go to www.bovishomes.co.uk