Raising standards to protect homeowners
Northern Ireland and Isle of Man Regional Winners 2009
Our Pride in the Job Northern Ireland and Isle of Man Regional Award Winners were announced at the award ceremony held in Belfast
Despite a difficult year for the new homes industry, builders from Northern Ireland have continued to maintain the highest standards and deliver quality new homes. That's according to the judges of NHBC's annual Pride in the Job campaign, which aims to recognise and reward the best site managers across the UK.
The competition has been intense again this year with Pride in the Job maintaining its reputation as the 'Oscars' of the new house-building industry. NHBC launched the campaign 29 years ago to help raise standards in new homes construction and it remains the only award to focus on site management.
The winners of the regional heat, announced today, had already beaten off competition from 13,000 site managers across the UK to secure a first round place with an NHBC Pride in the Job Quality Award.
Eleven house-building site managers from across Northern Ireland went on to win a `Seal of Excellence¿ for displaying exceptional site management skills and building the best quality new homes.
From these, three Regional Winners were selected to go forward to compete for the 'Supreme Awards' in the national Pride in the Job grand final to be held in London in January 2010:
- Philip McCullough: Dunlop Homes Limited - Small builder category
Philip started his career 27 years ago, joining Dunlop Homes as an apprentice joiner and working his way up the ladder to site manager. Philip, who has been in his current role for 10 years, made it to this stage of the competition last year. In his spare time, Philip enjoys restoring his two classic cars and is a watch commander in the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service - a role he has held for over 20 years.
- Thompson Eccles: Carvill Group Limited - Medium category
With experience in both housing and commercial builds developed over a 36 year career, Thompson knows a thing or two about delivering a quality product. Thompson is proud to be nominated for a Pride in the Job award as he believes it is recognition of how the various trades on his site work together and the standard of workmanship they achieve.
- Eugene Mulligan: McAleer & Rushe Limited - Multi-storey category
Eugene started his career as an architectural technician, gaining experience as a quantity surveyor and site engineer before taking charge of his first development as site manager in 1978. With over 40 years of industry experience, Eugene enjoys solving the day-to-day problems on site and the great sense of pride felt on completing a project. Eugene believes that having a good rapport helps to achieve high standards.
The rigorous Pride in the Job judging is based on 38 areas of site management including technical expertise, quality control and health and safety with each site manager assessed over 12 months to ensure standards remain consistently high.
David Little, NHBC's Regional Director for Northern Ireland, said: "Site managers are responsible for managing and delivering new homes for home buyers. Although it's been a difficult year, our winning site managers bring dedication and expertise to every aspect of the new homes they build from foundations through to final handover. Each one of them has demonstrated the necessary attitude and ability to tackle difficult challenges wherever they arise to ensure their customers buy homes of the highest quality."
NHBC is the leading warranty and insurance provider for new homes in the UK. Established more than 70 years ago as a not for profit company, NHBC's primary purpose is to help raise standards in the new house-building industry and provide consumer protection for homebuyers.
Visit the Pride in the Job website.
Ends
Notes to editors:
Names of the winners for the Northern Ireland and Isle of Man region are attached. Photos of the winning site managers are available on request - e-mail mediaoffice@nhbc.co.uk
The builder categories for the Pride in the Job Awards 2009 are:
a) Small builder - a site manager for a company or group of companies with an annual output of between 3 to 50 homes per year.
b) Medium builder - a site manager for a company or group of companies with an annual output of between 51 and 1,000 homes per year.
c) Large builder - a site manager for a company or group of companies with an annual output of 1,001 homes or more per year.
d) Multistorey builder - a site manager in any of the above categories working on multi-occupancy homes of 4 or more storeys.
News Date: 06/11/09