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Former bricklaying apprentice wins top national housebuilding award in Haslington

- 16 Oct 19

A former bricklaying apprentice, who worked his way up to become site manager at a national housebuilder in Haslington, has won a top national accolade for housing quality excellence.

Albert Hassall, based at Bovis Homes’ Hazelmere location, has won the National House Building Council (NHBC)’s Seal of Excellence Award, at a glittering award ceremony in Manchester.

The Seal of Excellence is awarded to the best site managers across the country and follows Albert’s Pride in the Job Quality Award after he was picked from more than 16,000 site managers across the UK.

Albert, who has worked at Bovis Homes for three years, put his success down to the team at Hazelmere – where phase two is underway and a wildlife zone is being created.

“This Seal of Excellence award means so much – it’s an absolute privilege and a testament to all the hard work the whole team puts in at Hazelmere,” Albert said. “It’s such a difficult accolade to attain but it just shows how care, attention to detail and effort pays off.

“We have a lot going on, we are starting phase two at Hazelmere and we are establishing a wildlife zone. We have merged some existing ponds together, with some attenuation basins. We have ducks and ducklings, and also a resident heron!”

The NHBC Pride in the Job North West region award ceremony took place at the Hilton Manchester Deansgate hotel, where 11 site managers won the Seal of Excellence out of 41.

Joanne Morrison, regional managing director at Bovis Homes, said: "We were all absolutely thrilled when Albert’s name was read out to collect one of the 11 awards given out in the North West.

"This is a fantastic achievement and is one, as anyone who has visited Haslington will know, is truly deserved."

A total of six Bovis Homes colleagues won a Pride in the Job Quality Award across the country this year, matching last year’s number, which was the housebuilder's highest amount since 2004.

Pride in the Job celebrates the exceptional contribution site managers make in creating homes of outstanding quality. After 12 months of rigorous judging, these first round winners excelled and then went on to compete for the Seal of Excellence Awards, with 140 picking up the accolade.

Darren Horner, NHBC regional director, said: "All the winners here today thoroughly deserve their accolades – they have endeavoured to achieve the highest quality homes they possibly could.

"It is a privilege to be involved, from the early stages of marking through to hosting the awards, it provides a real sense of excitement, creates a buzz within the industry and ensures we continue to meet the ever-changing needs of the house-building industry."