Publication Date: 10-07-2025 09:00
Ashberry Homes senior site manager in Desborough wins coveted industry award
The senior site manager at an Ashberry Homes development in Desborough has been recognised for the quality of his work with a coveted national award.
Keith Grayson has secured a Quality Award in the National House Building Council’s (NHBC) annual Pride in the Job competition for The Wickets, where Ashberry Homes – part of the Bellway Group – is building 350 new homes off Stoke Road.
He was among only 450 winners selected from a pool of more than 8,000 site managers whose developments have been inspected by the NHBC over the past year, placing him among an elite group within the industry.
This is the first Pride in the Job Quality Award that Keith has won during his four years as a senior site manager at Bellway.
Keith, 39, from Newark-on-Trent, started as a trainee bricklayer at the age of 17, qualified then switched to a management role and gained a degree in residential construction management from Shefield Hallam University. After being promoted to the position of site manager, he joined Bellway as senior site manager in 2021.
He said: “This is my first Quality Award and I feel elated and proud to have won it. But it is also an accolade for the whole team and I am indebted to my assistant site manager Joe Singh who has been a tremendous help to me. He has focused on making sure that customer care is excellent, allowing me to concentrate all my attention on the build programme.
“The build here is a technical challenge as it features the installation of solar panels and increased insulation which involve procedures new to many of us. All the homes will be fully compliant with the M4(2) regulations with adaptations such as wider doorways and level entry to the front and back doors to make them accessible and adaptable for anyone with disability issues.
“The site not only features top-quality work but looks great too. We are using different but subtle rendering colours such as greens, greys and blues, which help produce a fabulous street scene and make the development really stand out. There are public open spaces already being enjoyed by the residents who have moved in and there is a wonderful fountain creating a grand entrance to the site.”
The Pride in the Job awards involve a rigorous process including spot checks on the day-to-day running of a site. Each site manager is assessed across six key areas which are consistency, attention to detail, leadership, interpretation of drawings and specifications, technical expertise and health and safety.
Keith and the other Quality Award winners will go forward to the next stage of the competition – the NHBC’s Seal of Excellence and Regional Awards, which will be announced this autumn.
Lee Wilkinson, Construction Director for Bellway East Midlands, said: “As you can see from the number of sites that are judged nationally, winning this award is no mean feat. The NHBC Quality Award is recognition of a job very well done and is universally respected throughout the construction industry as a mark of distinction.
“Keith and his site team should be incredibly proud of this achievement. It is a real testament to their hard work, commitment and attention to detail not to mention the extremely high standards that we set for ourselves throughout the business.”
To find out more about the homes at The Wickets, see https://www.ashberryhomes.co.uk/new-homes/east-midlands/the-wickets.
