Award winning Bovis Homes site manager says competition ‘pushes everyone’ to higher standards

Matt Shelley, who is in charge at the Orchard Park site in the village, has been judged worthy of a Quality Award in the National House Building Council’s (NHBC) 2024 Pride in the Job competition.

It is the first time that Matt, 36, from Horsham, has won an award in the competition, which has been running for more than 40 years to help raise standards in the home building industry.

And he believes that aiming for the award is a great way to put the focus on quality and high standards at every stage of building a development.

“It pushes everyone,” he said, explaining that this means all the elements of a property that make it a high-quality build get the attention they require even though many of the most important aspects are not visible to the customer when they come to see the house or move in.

“It’s what makes a difference,” he added.

Matt also said that the whole team had been involved in winning the accolade.

“It was a great relief to hear that we had won. It’s a great achievement after all the hard work of getting everyone where they need to be. It’s recognition of what the guys are doing and what we are trying to achieve, which is providing the best quality homes for our customers.”

Matt went into the building industry at the age of 17, starting as a dryliner and working his way up. Six years ago, he joined Linden Homes, which along with Bovis Homes and Countryside Homes is part of Vistry Group.

Matt has been at Orchard Park for one year and has seen how the development and its new residents are settling in and starting to build a community through social events that bring people together.

He said: “Each day is different in this job. It’s never the same day. And handing a home over to the customer is a nice feeling. Making sure the people buying the properties get what they want and pushing to make them that little bit better gives the best possible end product to people.”

Four-bedroom homes are available to buy at Orchard Park with prices starting from £739,000. Prices start at £150,000 for a 50 per cent share in a one-bedroom maisonette through the Sage Homes scheme. To find out more, visit bovishomes.co.uk.