Accreditation and safety
Accreditations, insurance and safety
AJB Group is a CHAS accredited carpenter and SMSTS certified carpentry contractor working across Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk, and our director holds a Level 6 NVQ Diploma in Construction Site Management. Ask and we will send the current certificates the same working day where we can.
Why this page exists
Most carpentry firms fall out at pre-qualification, not on site.
If you are a main contractor, a developer or a local authority, the carpentry is rarely the hard part of appointing a subcontractor. The hard part is the pack: accreditation, insurance, RAMS, competence evidence, and somebody who can answer a question about temporary works without going quiet.
That is where a lot of good carpenters lose work they could easily have done. A two-man outfit can cut a beautiful roof and still be unable to return a completed pre-qualification questionnaire, because the certificates were never obtained and the method statements were never written.
AJB Group holds the paperwork because the work demands it. Alford Manor House is overseen by East Lindsey District Council. Hinchingbrooke is an NHS site. Bourne Town Hall is a 16-month public building renovation. None of those are places you can turn up without a system behind you.
What we hold
- Level 6 NVQ
- Director holds the Level 6 NVQ Diploma in Construction Site Management, awarded July 2026
- CHAS
- Accredited since April 2024, maintained annually
- SMSTS
- Site Management Safety Training Scheme certified
- H&S consultant
- Lee Marsden, MCIOB, Tech IOSH, MInstRE, TIFSM (retained)
- Upkeep
- Annual accreditation maintenance via Majestic Site Management Ltd
- RAMS
- Written per package before work starts
- Insurance
- Certificates issued on request
Level 6 NVQ Diploma
The director holds a Level 6 NVQ in construction site management.
Ashley Box, who founded AJB Group and still prices the packages and walks the sites, was awarded the Highfield Level 6 NVQ Diploma in Construction Site Management (Building and Civil Engineering) on 20 July 2026. It is an Ofqual regulated competence qualification, assessed on documented evidence from real projects across 22 workplace units.
That last part is the whole point, so it is worth saying plainly. SMSTS is a five day safety course, a good one, and AJB holds it. This is not that. A Level 6 NVQ is not taught and then examined, it is assessed: an assessor works through 22 units against work that has actually been run, and the evidence either stands up or it does not. Level 6 is the same level as a bachelor's degree on the regulated qualifications framework.
It does not replace CHAS or SMSTS, it sits alongside them and answers a different question. CHAS says a third party has checked the safety management system. SMSTS says somebody is trained to supervise a work area. The Level 6 NVQ says the person running this company has been formally assessed as competent to manage a construction package: the programme, the costs, the temporary works, the tolerances and the handover.
It was awarded on 20 July 2026, so it is current rather than historic, and it was earned while the company carried on running fourteen carpenters across three counties. That is a fair signal of where the business is pointed.
The qualification
- Qualification
- Highfield Level 6 NVQ Diploma in Construction Site Management (Building and Civil Engineering) (RQF)
- Holder
- Ashley Box, director and founder of AJB Group (Carpentry) Ltd
- Awarding body
- Highfield Qualifications, Ofqual regulated
- Training organisation
- Competum Ltd
- Qualification no.
- 610/5581/5
- Certificate no.
- CON8911921
- Awarded
- 20 July 2026
- Assessed on
- 22 workplace units, several of them at Level 7
- Verify
- highfieldqualifications.com/checkcert
The 22 units
What a Level 6 NVQ is actually assessed on
A main contractor appointing a carpentry subcontractor is not really asking whether the firm can cut a roof. That much is visible in the photographs. The question is whether the package will be managed: whether the programme will hold, whether the valuations will reconcile, whether the temporary works will be safe, whether the setting out will be right and whether the thing will hand over cleanly at the end.
Those are the units. The diploma was assessed across 22 of them. Below are the ones that matter commercially, quoted as they appear on the qualification, with what each one means once it is on your site.
| Unit assessed | What it means on your job |
|---|---|
| Establishing, implementing and maintaining organisational systems for managing health, safety, welfare and wellbeing (Level 7) | The safety system behind the carpentry package, not a folder printed the morning of the induction. |
| Ensuring that work activities and resources meet project work requirements (Level 7) | Labour, plant and materials matched to what the drawings and the specification actually ask for. |
| Planning the preparation of the site for the project (Level 7) | Access, storage, welfare and sequence agreed before the first timber delivery lands. |
| Evaluating and confirming work methods (Level 7) | Choosing the method and proving it, which is where a usable RAMS pack comes from. |
| Controlling project progress against agreed programmes | Holding the dates set at tender, across multiple plots or through phased single buildings. |
| Controlling project progress against agreed quality standards | Sign off first time rather than a snagging list arriving at handover. |
| Controlling project quantities and costs | Valuations that reconcile, and variations priced before they are carried out. |
| Managing the installation, maintenance, monitoring and removal of temporary works | Shuttering, formwork and propping, which are load bearing until the concrete cures. |
| Establishing dimensional control criteria | Setting out and tolerance, from a shutter box to a hand cut roof. |
| Identifying, allocating and planning the deployment and use of plant, equipment or machinery | Crane lifts for joist and truss sets planned into the programme rather than bolted onto it. |
| Establishing, controlling and monitoring environmental factors and sustainability | Waste, timber sourcing, noise and neighbours, which matter most on live and occupied sites. |
| Organising, controlling and monitoring supplies of materials | Timber, doors, ironmongery and kitchens on site for the week they are needed, not the week after. |
| Managing the project handover | Closing a package out properly: documents, snags cleared and a clean exit from your site. |
| Allocating work and monitoring people's performance | Fourteen employed carpenters put on the right plot, with the standard checked rather than assumed. |
Where this shows up in the work
Temporary works. At NHS Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon, AJB followed Apex Demolition onto a live NHS site and installed 450 x 450 shutter boxes ahead of 58 concrete pours, set with the site engineers to millimetre tolerance so pre-fabricated pods would land on them. Shuttering is temporary works, and it is load bearing before the concrete cures. The unit covering the installation, maintenance, monitoring and removal of temporary works is that job written down as a competence.
Dimensional control and quality standards. Establishing dimensional control criteria is what setting out is called once it is being managed rather than simply done. It is the difference between a roof structure that goes together and one that gets argued with on the scaffold. On roof work of the kind AJB is known for, raised tie trusses pitched at 35 and 45 degrees, sixteen metres of common cut rafters to a box beam, four irregular hips and five valley sets, the tolerance is settled before the first rafter is cut. Controlling progress against agreed quality standards is the same discipline pointed at sign off.
Programme, quantities and costs. Controlling project progress against agreed programmes and controlling project quantities and costs are the two units a quantity surveyor cares about, and on a full carpentry package they are the whole relationship: scope written out line by line at tender, variations priced before they are carried out, valuations that reconcile against your own take-off, and plots reaching water tight in a steady flow rather than all at once. AJB currently runs the full internal carpentry package plus garage roofs on a 300-home development, across plots at different build stages. That is programme control as a daily activity rather than a chart on a wall.
A competence qualification, not a short course
Construction runs on one day and five day certificates and they have their place. This is a different category of thing. It is a full Ofqual regulated diploma at Level 6, assessed on documented workplace evidence across 22 units, several of them assessed at Level 7. It cannot be bought, it cannot be crammed, and it cannot be completed by somebody who has not actually run the work.
It is also the qualification that underpins an application for a CSCS Academically Qualified Person or Manager card.
One distinction worth being precise about: the qualification belongs to Ashley Box as an individual, not to AJB Group. Awarding bodies qualify people, they do not accredit companies. The company holds CHAS and SMSTS. The director holds the Level 6 NVQ. If you are checking credentials at pre-qualification, that is the line to check them along, and every number needed to do it is published on this page.
Ask for a copy of the certificate with your pre-qualification pack and it will come with the rest of the documents. Email ajbgroupcontracting@gmail.com or call 07716 954091.
CHAS
What CHAS accreditation actually means
CHAS, the Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme, is a third party assessment of how a contractor manages health and safety. It is not a badge you buy. An assessor reviews the company's policies, risk assessment process, method statements, training records, accident reporting, equipment maintenance and competence checks against a recognised standard, and either passes the company or lists what has to change.
For a buyer, that is the point of it. CHAS is one of the schemes recognised under the SSIP framework, so a main contractor who accepts SSIP-registered members can take the assessment as read rather than running their own from scratch. It shortens pre-qualification from a fortnight of chasing documents to a single certificate check.
AJB Group obtained CHAS accreditation in April 2024 and has maintained it since, with the annual upkeep handled through Majestic Site Management Ltd. It is renewed as a matter of course, not scrambled for when a tender appears.
SMSTS
What SMSTS certification means on your site
SMSTS is the CITB Site Management Safety Training Scheme, the five-day course for people who manage or supervise site work. It covers the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the CDM Regulations, risk assessment and method statements, temporary works, working at height, excavations, lifting operations, occupational health and the practical business of running a work area safely.
In carpentry terms it matters more than it might sound. Roofing carpentry is working at height, most days, often on scaffold that somebody else erected. Joist and truss sets are lifting operations. Shuttering and formwork is temporary works, and it is load bearing before the concrete cures. Those are the four categories that produce the serious incidents in this trade, and all four sit inside the SMSTS syllabus.
Practically, an SMSTS certified contractor can supervise its own package. You are not lending AJB your supervision, writing their method statements or adding their carpenters to somebody else's brief.
Health and safety management
A retained consultant, not a folder in a van
Lee Marsden, MCIOB, Tech IOSH, MInstRE, TIFSM, is retained as AJB Group's external health and safety consultant. He is not called in when something goes wrong. He reviews the company's systems on an ongoing basis, which is how the CHAS and SMSTS position has been kept current since 2024 rather than allowed to drift.
Risk assessments and method statements are produced for the carpentry package before work starts, and issued to the principal contractor for review with the rest of the site pack. If your CDM process needs them in a particular format, in a particular portal, by a particular date, say so at tender stage and they will arrive that way.
Insurance and guarantees
Ask us for the current certificates
Insurance certificates are issued on request and go out with tender returns and pre-qualification packs as standard. Because cover is renewed annually, this page deliberately does not publish figures or renewal dates: a number printed on a website in one policy year is worse than useless in the next, and the only version worth relying on is the certificate itself.
Email ajbgroupcontracting@gmail.com or call 07716 954091, tell us what your process needs, and the current documents will come back to you. Same working day where we can.
The same applies to any workmanship guarantee. AJB Group does not publish guarantee terms it has not put in writing, so if a warranty on the workmanship matters to your decision, raise it before the estimate is issued and it will be dealt with in the written scope for your project rather than in a marketing line.
Competence in practice
Accreditation is the entry ticket. The work is the evidence.
Certificates get a contractor through the gate. What keeps them coming back is the way the package runs once they are inside it, so the two belong on the same page.
At Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon, AJB followed Apex Demolition onto a live NHS site and installed 450 x 450 shutter boxes ahead of 58 concrete pours, working alongside the site engineers to set them to millimetre precision so pre-fabricated Zed pods would land on them. That is temporary works, sequencing and tolerance, on somebody else's programme.
At Bourne Town Hall, twelve separate roof adaptations across a 16-month renovation for Probus Construction, including the steel and timber build-up carrying a new five-metre clock on the front elevation. At Alford Manor House, a 20 metre hand cut roof on a steel-framed structure for a council-overseen venue.
Common questions
Accreditation and insurance
What is a Level 6 NVQ Diploma in Construction Site Management?
It is an Ofqual regulated competence qualification, assessed on documented evidence from real projects across 22 workplace units rather than in a classroom. Ashley Box, director and founder of AJB Group (Carpentry) Ltd, was awarded the Highfield Level 6 NVQ Diploma in Construction Site Management (Building and Civil Engineering) on 20 July 2026. Level 6 is the same level as a bachelor's degree on the regulated qualifications framework.
Is the Level 6 NVQ the same thing as SMSTS?
No, and the two sit alongside each other rather than replacing one another. SMSTS is a five day CITB safety course. The Level 6 NVQ is a full diploma assessed on workplace evidence across 22 units covering programme control, quantities and costs, temporary works, dimensional control, materials, plant, environmental management and project handover. AJB Group holds CHAS accreditation and SMSTS certification as well.
Can I verify the Level 6 NVQ?
Yes, and that is why the numbers are published. The awarding body is Highfield Qualifications, the qualification number is 610/5581/5 and the certificate number is CON8911921. Certificates can be checked at highfieldqualifications.com/checkcert, and a copy is issued with pre-qualification packs on request. The qualification belongs to Ashley Box as an individual, not to the company.
Is AJB Group CHAS accredited?
Yes. AJB Group obtained CHAS accreditation in April 2024 and maintains it annually. CHAS is a third party assessment of a contractor's health and safety management, and it is the certificate most main contractors ask for at pre-qualification.
What does SMSTS certified mean?
SMSTS is the Site Management Safety Training Scheme, the CITB course for people who run or supervise site work. It covers risk assessment, method statements, temporary works, working at height and the legal duties that sit with the person in charge of the work area. It means AJB can supervise its own work package rather than borrowing a main contractor's supervision.
Do you have a health and safety consultant?
Yes. Lee Marsden, MCIOB, Tech IOSH, MInstRE, TIFSM, is retained as AJB Group's external health and safety consultant. Accreditation upkeep is handled annually through Majestic Site Management Ltd, so the paperwork is renewed rather than left to lapse between jobs.
Can I see your insurance certificates?
Yes. Current certificates of insurance, CHAS certification and SMSTS certification are issued on request, and they are sent with tender returns and pre-qualification packs as standard. Email ajbgroupcontracting@gmail.com or call 07716 954091 and tell us what your process needs.
Do you produce RAMS?
Yes. Risk assessments and method statements are produced for the carpentry package before work starts and reviewed with the principal contractor, covering the parts of carpentry that actually cause harm: working at height on roof structures, lifting operations, temporary works and power tool use.
Are your carpenters CSCS carded?
Site carding requirements vary by client and site, so tell us what your site rules demand and we will confirm what our team holds before anyone is booked in for an induction.
Need our pack for a pre-qualification?
Tell us what your process asks for and the certificates will come straight back.