ASH Drywall

Delighted to announce that ASH Drywall have been recognised in Kier Construction Southern’s Supply Chain Awards 2025, for our outstanding contribution to the Combe Valley Hospital project in Bexhill-on-Sea. Once complete, this new £60m facility (part of the Re-designing Inpatient Services in East Sussex (RIS:ES) Programme), will replace outdated mental health service premises in Eastbourne.

Paul Sumpter (Director and head of Commercial Projects) and Sean Ash (Legal Director), accepted the award on ASH Drywall’s behalf – but particular thanks (and a great deal of the credit) of course goes to our valued site team, who continue to do a fantastic job in managing and delivering ASH Drywall’s works package for this project. Your combined efforts have, undoubtedly, been instrumental in securing this award and we extend a profound “thank you” to everybody involved for all your hard work to date.

Many thanks also to the Kier Southern team: Gareth Peerman (Commercial Director) and Martin Perry (Operations Manager) who presented the award; Mark Clark (Project Director); Andrew Morton (Senior QS); Ian Milligan (Senior Site Manager); Carl Martin (Site Manager) and the wider @KierConstruction team, who have been a pleasure to deal with throughout. We look forward to continuing our positive working relationship and successfully delivering this project, together, in the near future.

It was great visiting Balfour Beatty’s ‘West Slope Development’ at the University of Sussex, last week.

Things are progressing well with ASH Drywall’s works package, comprising:

1. Application of Insulation and associated linings to Steel Framed-System;
2. Metal Stud Internal Partitions; and
3. MF and Lay-in Grid Ceilings.

The project is split over 24,030 sq m of floor space; 38 floors; and 7 buildings which, when complete, will operate as additional Student Accommodation and a new Health and Wellbeing Centre on campus.

The project compliments previous works undertaken by ASH Drywall at the University of Sussex (the “East Slope Development” – completed in 2020); further adding to our growing portfolio of experience with purpose-built student accommodation; healthcare; and mixed-use schemes generally, in the South-East of England / Greater London areas.

Many thanks to ASH Drywall’s site team for taking the time to deliver a very engaging (and interesting) tour; and it was motivating to see the results of everyone’s hard work so far. I very much look forward to seeing the completed project, in due course.

Sean Ash
Legal Director at ASH Drywall.

Below are a few images taken during my site visit.

01 - West Slope

07 - West Slope

04 - West Slope

05 - West Slope

03 - West Slope

02 - West Slope

06 - West Slope

08 - West Slope

09 - West Slope

11 - West Slope

In advance of World Mental Health Day (10 October 2025), the team at ASH Drywall delivered a bespoke Mental Health in Construction presentation to our workforce on Balfour Beatty’s West Slope Residences Development at the University of Sussex.

The talk was well attended / received, with mental health first-aider presenters Paul Seager (Safety Supervisor) and Sean Ash (Legal Director and Safety Co-ordinator), discussing some of the core concepts surrounding stress / anxiety and their interrelation with individual mental health needs in the workplace. Useful self-help resources (notably, the Lighthouse Club’s Construction Industry Charity) were sign-posted to attendees and, above all, the urgent need to eliminate stigma around the topic / discussion of “mental health” generally, emphasised.

The talk comes at a challenging moment for the UK Construction Industry, which statistically experiences a suicide rate four times the national average – prompting the immediate need for further understanding, education and ultimately, long overdue change.

On 24 September 2025, the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) published a consultation on its mental health project (see link in resources below). The CLC’s Health Safety and Wellbeing Summit 2025 set out mental health as a priority focus area, with the aim to create an environment that fosters better mental health for all people that work in the UK Construction Industry. Please help progress the cause by completing the consultation today. 

RESOURCES:

1. Lighthouse Club: Construction Industry Charity:  https://lighthousecharity.org/
2. CLC Mental Health Consultation Press Release: Read the press release
3. CLC Consultation Response: https://warwick.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6Kcxeryr8HRK1eu
4. CLC Mental Health Site Poster: CLC Poster Download
5. CECA "Stop. Make a Change" resources: www.stopmakeachange.co.uk

01 - World Mental Health Day 2025

02 - World Mental Health Day 2025

03 - World Mental Health Day 2025

04 - World Mental Health Day 2025

05 - World Mental Health Day 2025

06 - World Mental Health Day 2025

Delighted to have received a “Perfect Delivery Award” from Morgan Sindall Construction’s Southern Home Counties team at their 2025 Supply Chain Awards.

This award recognises ASH Drywall’s outstanding contribution towards two recent healthcare projects:

1. Same Day Emergency Care refurbishment scheme at St. Richard’s Hospital, Chichester.
   
   
2. Urgent Treatment Centre / A&E extension project at Worthing Hospital.

A big and well-deserved “thank you” to our dedicated site teams, for exceeding expectations on these projects – as well as James Ramsden (Senior Project Manager), Tom Bowcock (Managing QS), Steve Sear (Operations Director), Joe Cornwall (Senior Site Manager) and the wider Morgan Sindall team for your valued collaboration / assistance throughout.

We look forward to continuing our positive working relationship and delivering many more successful projects, together, in future.