ESP PLAY attends The Hill Group Supply Chain Awards
Burnley-based playground manufacturer ESP PLAY attended The Hill Group Supply Chain Awards at The Brewery in central London on Thursday 10th September, joining hundreds of guests from across the housebuilder’s supply chain for an evening recognising the partners behind its developments.
Hosted at the Chiswell Street venue and compered by Canadian comedian Katherine Ryan, the awards celebrated the subcontractors, suppliers and consultants working alongside Hill on schemes across London, the home counties and the south. Hill, founded in 1999, is one of the UK’s largest privately owned housebuilders and has won more than 500 industry awards, including WhatHouse Housebuilder of the Year on three occasions.
Play as part of placemaking
ESP PLAY works with Hill as a play specialist, advising its development teams on outdoor play provision and supplying and installing equipment across residential schemes.
That role starts earlier than many people assume. Play areas on new housing developments are shaped by planning conditions, open space requirements and Section 106 obligations long before anyone chooses a piece of equipment, and decisions taken at layout stage, where the space sits, how big it is, what it backs onto, how it is overlooked, determine what is possible later. ESP’s involvement at that point helps developers arrive at schemes that satisfy planners, work for residents and are practical to maintain over the long term.
The company manufactures its play equipment at its head office in Burnley and installs nationwide, supplying housebuilders alongside schools, local authorities, councils and the leisure sector. All equipment is designed and installed to BS EN 1176.
Long-term relationships
Hill has been explicit about the value it places on its supply chain, describing long-term supplier relationships as fundamental to the business and pointing to the role those partnerships play in supporting apprenticeships and skills in the industry.
Andrew Wood, CEO at ESP PLAY, said: ” it was a good evening and a generous one, and it is unusual for a housebuilder to put this much effort into thanking the people who deliver its schemes. Play is often the last thing specified on a development and the first thing residents judge it by. Being asked into the conversation early is what makes the difference, and that is the relationship we have built with Hill.”
ESP PLAY congratulated all of the evening’s nominees and winners, and thanked Hill for the invitation.
