Drew Smith site manager picks up top industry award for his work at high-profile Portsmouth development

A senior site manager from Drew Smith has won one of the highest accolades in the housebuilding industry for a second time.

Gary Pullen, a senior site manager, has won a coveted Regional Award for the South West as part of the Pride in the Job Awards.

The Regional Award is the third stage of the Pride in the Job Awards, with Gary being among 443 site managers out of 8,000 across the country to receive a Quality Award in the first round of this year’s competition.

He will now be entered automatically into the Supreme Awards which will be announced at a gala ceremony in London in January.

Gary was awarded the winner of the multi-storey builder category for his work on the development at the former Kingston Prison in Portsmouth.

The 56-year-old is no stranger to the awards and picked up a regional title for the first time in 2015.

He has won the coveted Pride in the Job Quality Award on five previous occasions and is also the proud owner of two Seal of Excellence awards.

The father of three has worked in the housebuilding industry since the age of 17 and his first job was as a tea boy on a development site.

He said: “To win one of these awards takes a lot of hard work, dedication and a meticulous eye for detail.

“We are thrilled to have won the regional award, this is a team effort and we could not have achieved this without everyone working together in the same direction.

“I am incredibly proud to have won the regional award, we are working on a great development which is in a great location.”

Organised by the National House Building Council (NHBC) the Pride in the Job awards celebrate site managers who have achieved the very highest standards in their work. It is the most highly regarded competition in the industry and is now in its 42nd year.

Judging is rigorous with each site manager assessed across six areas; consistency, attention to detail, leadership, interpretation of drawings and specifications, technical expertise and health and safety.

Steve Wood, the chief executive of the NHBC, said: “For more than 40 years Pride in the Job has been an important part of our work to help drive construction quality.

“Winning site managers tell us that it inspires them to give a little extra and to strive harder for ever-higher standards of house building.

“Congratulations to all the 2022 Pride in the Job Seal of Excellence and Regional Award winners. They are an inspiration to us all and should be very proud of the quality of new homes they are creating.”

Drew Smith, which is part of Vistry Group, is working with Vivid Homes on 110 new homes for social rent and 73 for shared ownership in the grounds of the former Kingston Prison in the Milton area of Portsmouth.

The first units will be completed before Christmas with work on the scheme due to finish by May of next year.

The part of the £10m development Gary is overseeing includes five apartment blocks of one and two-bedroom homes along with parking and bike storage.

Kingston Prison was closed by The Ministry of Justice in 2013 and sold in 2014.