THE site manager of a new Bromsgrove housing development has won a prestigious national award.

Chris Bennett, aged 34, from Kingswinford, won a Quality Award this year in the National House Building Council’s (NHBC) annual Pride in the Job competition and is one of just 449 site managers from across the UK to receive the accolade.

Mr Bennett, who works at the Whitford Heights development in Bromsgrove, was selected from a pool of more than 8,000 site managers whose sites have been inspected by the NHBC over the past year, placing him among an elite group within the industry.

As a Quality Award winner, he is automatically entered into the next stage of the competition – the NHBC’s Seal of Excellence and Regional Awards, which will be awarded later in the year.

The NHBC runs the Pride in the Job awards annually and every site registered with them is automatically entered into the competition. Each site manager is judged on a wide range of aspects of their work including attention to detail, leadership, technical expertise and health and safety.

This is the second time that Mr Bennett has won a Pride in the Job Quality Award and comes just a year after he received his first, which was awarded for his work at Bellway’s Jubilee Green development in Coventry.

He said: “I’m thrilled to have won the Pride in the Job Quality Award for the second year in a row. We have high standards at Whitford Heights and we’re always striving to be unique and stand out from our competitors.

“I’d like to express my thanks to my Assistant Site Manager David Talbot and the team around us for the hard work they have put in to achieve this award".

After serving in the Army, Mr Bennett embarked on an ex-forces bricklaying apprenticeship scheme. He has worked in the construction industry for the past eight years – the last five with Bellway – progressing from bricklayer to foreman to site manager.