London & South East NHBC Awards

“A huge honour” for Dave

 The Hartridges, Dave Guy, NHBC, BargateWinning a Quality Award is “A huge honour” for Bargate Homes Site Manager Dave Guy, who has achieved one of the building industry’s highest honours for his work at The Old Brewery– a £7.5 million redevelopment of a former drinks factory in Hambledon.

Dave, 46, from Old Netley, Bursledon, has worked with Bargate since it was founded by Gerard Price in 2005. He said: “I am absolutely thrilled with this award. We take a great deal of pride in the work we do at Bargate and to be recognised for that is a huge honour.”

“For me the key factor to winning the award is ensuring and maintaining good organisation and good quality right from the start of the development. You never know when the award inspectors will come, so standards have to be high all the time,” he said.

“It’s also an achievement for the team and the thanks are passed on down through the ranks,” said Dave, who has had a phone call of congratulation from his managing director.

He has been in the construction industry since he left school around 25 years ago, having started out as a bricklayer.

Bargate managing director Angus Cook said: “This is a fantastic achievement and places Dave in the top 400 site managers in the country. We will now progress to the national finals – fingers crossed we’ll win that too!

“This award demonstrates that we actually put into practice what we say we do – which is building high quality homes in places where people want to live. It really underpins the way we as Bargate conduct ourselves at every level of the business.

“I am so proud of Dave and the whole team, which includes the numerous sub-contractors we work with. We have some of the best in the area, and they are all committed to delivering the best new homes in our region.”

Constructed on the site of family-owned soft drinks firm Hartridges, Old Brewery is situated in one of the most sought after locations in Hampshire.

Surrounded by quintessentially English countryside, the site in West Street comprises 28 one, two, three and four-bedroom homes – together with 3,000 sq ft of office space.

Unusually, nine of the new homes are specifically designated for people who are connected to the village or have family living there.

The Hartridge family previously owned the site for more than a century, but they have relocated the business to a more appropriate location for its distribution needs in Petersfield.

Bargate Homes spent more than a year putting together a very sensitive development proposal that respects the unique character of Hambledon village, which is now regarded as a conservation area both in terms of the village itself and its surrounding countryside.

The Hartridge family has been custodian of the site for many generations and was keen to ensure that the site’s redevelopment was not only of the highest quality possible, but that it fitted in with and benefited Hambledon village and ultimately provided something that the family could be proud of.

Bargate Homes sales and marketing director Robert Lambie said: “We’re hugely proud of The Old Brewery development. It was on the horizon for a long time and we worked very hard, together with our joint venture partners Burton Property, to make sure that the development was sensitive to the very real needs of the village.

“Hambledon and its surrounding countryside is regarded as a conservation area and The Old Brewery reflects and respects its unique character.”

Hambledon, the ‘cradle of cricket’, is everything one would expect from a Hampshire village – picturesque, historic and quintessentially English.

Yet this almost cloistered village lies just six miles from the M3: it is only a 30-minute drive from Portsmouth and 45 minutes from Southampton, making it the perfect base for work, rest and play.

The Old Brewery development is at the heart of this piece of Hampshire haven. All the homes are beautifully designed and exude quality.

Nestled among the sweeping farm and woodlands of the South Downs, the village follows the line of an ancient riverbed at the eastern end of the Meon Valley. The area was awarded National Park status in 2009, confirming what local residents have always known – that much of England’s green and pleasant land is right on their doorstep.

Currently construction of the development is progressing on programme and is due for completion in October.

About the author

Roma Publications