NEWS
NOVEMBER 2025
Rochdale Town Hall
Commenting on Rochdale Town Hall, the judges said: ”This Grade I listed Victorian Gothic masterpiece designed by William H Crossland has been meticulously and sympathetically restored, including a series of design interventions which have been made to improve physical and intellectual access to this much-loved town hall. This exemplar restoration project is pivotal to the heritage regeneration of the whole borough and has ensured that this important 19th century building has its future secured and is now a place of pride for the Rochdale community.
Commenting on the grand final winners, RICS UK Awards National chairperson Kerry Gibbs said: “It is an honour to judge these awards. We had the pleasure of visiting each of the winning projects, and to meet with the teams behind them, and to see their passion is a truly heart-warming experience. “These projects play an integral role in their communities, and wider local economies, and these awards allow us to recognise and celebrate the success of the surveyors across the UK delivering them. “The teams and individuals behind these projects should be very proud of their successes, a huge congratulations to all of the winners.”
OCTOBER 2025
Woodbury Transformation Project
Official Opening – Woodbury Transformation Project, Bury College
HH Smith & Sons were delighted to be invited by Bury College to the official opening of the Woodbury Transformation project. We were joined by members of the College Leadership team, Chair of Bury College Corporation, College Estates Team, and the Design Team to celebrate the successful completion of this fantastic scheme.
This has been a great project for everyone involved, and we’re proud to have played our part in delivering such an inspiring and high-quality facility for the college.
A big thank you to all teams involved for their hard work and collaboration throughout the project. 👏
SEPTEMBER 2025
New Apprentice Team
What goes in to taking on an apprentice? Join us and take a look at one of our apprentice induction and training days. Each new employee will spend a whole morning with an experience construction tutor who will deliver awareness training in:
– Health & Safety
– Manual Handling
– Working at Heigh
– Asbestos
After this an experienced member of our team will carry out some face fit tests to ensure the new apprentice can work safely in dust environments with a proper fitting mask.
After this, it’s down to the paperwork. We run through all the necessary forms to get the lads set up as a new employee at H. H. Smith.
We then kit them out in our stylish branded workwear and ensure they have all the necessary PPE to get them going.
AUGUST 2025
Social Value Report
So far this year!!
We’ve successfully diverted 473 tons of waste—over 99%—from landfills! 90% of our spending goes to suppliers and subcontractors in the northwest, with 44% specifically in Greater Manchester. We also provided 11 work experience placements, totalling 191 days or 1528 hours of real-world exposure. 🌟 Real experiences. Real impact. 🌟
JULY 2025
Thanks for your donations
We just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who has donated to our page so far!
We’ve reached 82% of our target with £8,287.00 so far, absolutely amazing thank you for everyone taking part.
If you haven’t had to time to donate yet, we would really appreciate any donations please. This truly is an amazing cause, and looking at the weather forecast for this Sunday is really is going to be gruelling for us all!
Thank you for your amazing support – and have a lovely week!
JULY 2025
Catching up with Oliver
Great to catch up with our apprentice bricklayer Oliver and his mentor Dom on our Science and Industry Museum project this week.
Oliver was busy building up a utility hole under the watchful eye of Dom.
Apprentice: Oliver Mentor: Dominic
JUNE 2025
Manchester to Blackpool Charity Bike Ride
We’re excited to announce that we are back with a bang, participating again in the Manchester to Blackpool charity bike ride 2025. This time we have gone BIGGER! Our team of 27 are looking to raise even more this year for the amazing Christie’s Charity.
Your generous donations will go directly towards providing essential services, ground-breaking research, and world-class care for those affected by cancer. Every mile we pedal is fuelled by your support, and every penny raised brings us closer to a world free from the fear of cancer.
Join us in making a difference! Please donate and share to help us reach our fundraising goal. Together, we can support Christie’s in their mission to save lives and provide hope.
MARCH 2025
Catching up with Nathan
Last week, we caught up with Nathan at our Touchstones project.
He’s currently thriving in an incredible opportunity with Positive Steps Charity, a team dedicated to empowering young people to retrain and rejoin the workforce.
Nathan has truly shined, boasting an outstanding attendance record and a fantastic work ethic!
We’re looking forward to sitting down with Nathan this week to discuss a full-time opportunity with HH Smith.
FEBRUARY 2025
Bury College Update
Fantastic to welcome the opening of phase 3 at the Bury College Woodbury Transformation Project.
The students will be able to make good use of the new external seating area.
JANUARY 2025
Catch up with Sam Lowthion
Since joining HHSmith, Sam has successfully transitioned from teaching to become one of our standout Assistant Contracts Managers.
He is currently making valuable contributions to the project at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester!
OCTOBER 2024
John Rylands and Library Institute project
Last weekend we hired in some crane help at our John Rylands and Library Institute project.
The crane was used to lift heavy ventilation equipment up onto the roof and our apprentice Alex West gave us the full breakdown.
SEPTEMBER 2024
Welcome, McKenzie!
If you’ve been to Haigh Hall recently you might have bumped into our latest apprentice McKenzie!
You’ll find him learning all things wood work, with installing the reconditioned windows and frames along with all the joinery skills he needs to finish off his apprentership
JULY 2024
Helping Steps to Recovery and Kirklees Council
We were delighted to help Steps to Recovery and their partners Kirklees Council in revamping both their Peace Pit Polytunnels and S2R community allotment
“Works included building new planting stations, new composting system and much needed repairs and revamps to the poly tunnel and the potting shed roof. The works were very well received and the lads enjoyed working in such a pleasant setting”
Padraig O’Neill // Site Manager
JUNE 2024
Kenmac Associates Ltd training session
On Friday last week, the team visited the ET Hire Ltd and Site Access Services Manchester depot for a team training session, with Kenmac Associates Ltd – Safety, Health, Environment & Quality Assurance Consultants also suppling technical insight.
“It’s imperative for us as a company, to keep moving with the times and evolving our health and safety procedures” – Juan Crous, Director – HH Smith & Sons Co Ltd
The purpose of the morning was to demonstrate new equipment with some training mixed in. The team at ET Hire had a large live display the latest equipment that is available for the team to hire for site work.
“We first demonstrated some work at height solutions and finished the morning by looking at up-to-date dust prevention on-site. Three of our trained directors hosted the morning.” – Marcus Gunning, Managing Director – ET Hire Ltd and Site Access Services
“Last week I had the pleasure of spending a morning assisting HH Smith & Sons Co Ltd with some Work at Height and Dust Management refresher training for their Site Managers before their equipment hire partners ET Hire showcased the latest access equipment and dust extraction innovations available to them on site.” – Gareth Roberts, Director – Kenmac Associates Ltd – Safety, Health, Environment & Quality Assurance Consultants
A massive thank you to the team at ET hire & Kenmac for providing the valuable training session.
JUNE 2024
HH Smith become Fresh Futures Patrons
We are delighted become Patrons of Fresh Futures and our donation will go towards helping them with their work supporting disadvantaged children and young people across Kirklees and surrounding areas. Making a difference to the communities where we are working is of great importance to us.
MAY 2024
Bury College students visit
We were excited to provide a tour to the current level 1 construction students from Bury College. Mike Smith and Gareth from Kenmac Associates explained all the elements of works involved at this current stage including the demolition of the existing hair and beauty building, structural alterations to form new external windows & doors and partition installation.
FEBRUARY 2024
Many hands make light work, as new group of volunteers start onsite
This month we have had a new group of 10 volunteers start onsite under the guidance of Jenny Truran from Lancashire County Council Conservation Studios. As part of our ongoing support of the volunteer schemes onsite and as part of our social value contribution, HH Smith have kindly provided the PPE they will need to safely work onsite and have also provided each volunteer with a personalised “Heritage Conservation Volunteer” fleece.
The volunteer group have taken to the training scheme really well, and in the picture below, the group can be see working with Jenny and Heritage Conservation Joinery Specialist Tim Phelps. Tim was brought in to train the group in historic joinery restoration, and he commented that he was surprised at how quickly they had taken his training onboard, and how naturally they had taken to the process.
JANUARY 2024
Revamp of Rochdale Town Hall unveiled
Only a few weeks to go now.
Absolutely incredible project to be part of.
Did you see Rochdale Town Hall on the BBC last night?
DECEMBER 2023
Manresa House Complete!
Our project in Birmingham has come to an end with a total project value of £5.6m. Manresa House is owned by the Society of Jesus and functions as the provincial novitiate for the uk.
Sustainability was a fundamental part of the project and issues of energy reduction , generation, orientation and flexibility were key drivers of the project.
SEPTEMBER 2023
Please welcome our new apprentice members to the team!
Noah, Mckenzie, Jamie, Alex have been brought in for various roles from trainee site engineers to the joinery department.
JULY 2023
RIP David Smith
It is with great sadness to inform you that David Smith passed away last Saturday.
David has been at the helm of the company since 1978 where the company has grown from a small plumbing and heating company to 30 million pound construction company.
The core to this success is family values which is imbedded within the company.
David’s wishes were for the company to continue its progression which as a family we will strive to ensure will go from strength to strength.
Fiona, Matthew, Nicola and Michael would like to thank everyone who have sent their condolences. They have received countless phone calls, emails texts, flowers, meals, thoughts and prayers.
These have been most comforting in this difficult time and a reminder of the impact David had on so many,
Details for David’s funeral
Friday the 28th July
2pm Our Lady of Grace Church, Prestwich.
2.45pm – 3pm A lap of Sedgley Park rugby club
3.30pm Radcliffe crematorium ( Restricted to family)
4.30pm Sedgley Park rugby club to celebrate David’s life.
Dress code: No black.
If you wish to send flowers please make a donation instead to “SicKids charity” – www.justgiving.com/sickids
MAY 2023
Bury College Completed!
The £9.25m project has been competed. The state-of -the-art facilities include a laboratory, simulated hospital ward, replicated domestic home, immersive digital environment, Esports suite and advanced IT suites to support students in their practical learning. The development reinforces the College’s presence in the town, whilst enlivening the streetscape and significantly improving the public realm. The project has achieved a BREEAM Excellent rating.
MAY 2023
Haigh Hall Is Go!
We are delighted to have been awarded the contract with Wigan Council for the external repair and restoration of Haigh Hall. The Grade II* Listed Hall, currently on Historic England’s ‘At Risk Register’, is revered by local people as Wigan’s ‘Jewel in the Crown’ and has been at the heart of their history for over 900 years. This initial phase of work forms part of the Council’s wider ambitious plan to fully restore and repurpose this iconic heritage asset, transforming the dilapidated empty shell into a cultural visitor destination of national significance.