Astley has continued its support of Harlow Green Primary School by welcoming the winners of its latest design competition to its Team Valley headquarters for a behind-the-scenes tour and certificate presentation.

Following the success of an earlier Road Safety sign design competition, students were invited to create graphics for nine designated play zones across the school, including the Reading Gazebo, Construction Zone and Traditional Sports area.

After reviewing entries from pupils across all year groups, Astley’s Board selected the winning designs, with the successful students invited to visit the signmaker’s facility to learn more about the business and the careers available within the industry.

The winning designs will now be manufactured and installed at the school, helping pupils identify the different activity areas while encouraging imaginative and active play.

James Mavi, Managing Director of Astley, said:

“It was another incredibly difficult decision for the Board, as we received so many fantastic entries from talented students across all year groups. The creativity, effort and quality on display made selecting the winners no easy task.

“Our team thoroughly enjoyed welcoming the students to our facility and we’re now looking forward to bringing their ideas to life for the whole school to enjoy.”

Leighanne Softley, Assistant Head at Harlow Green Primary School, added:

“The children thoroughly enjoyed their visit to Astley and have not stopped talking about it since. It was an engaging and inspiring experience, and a wonderful example of how local businesses can support schools through meaningful educational engagement.”

As part of its ongoing commitment to the local community, Astley team members will also be returning to the school through the company’s paid volunteer day initiative, helping to enhance the outdoor learning environment at Harlow Green’s Forest School.

A few weeks ago, we welcomed photography students Jack and Harleigh from Gateshead College to Astley for a day of hands-on experience within a busy manufacturing and marketing environment.

The opportunity was initiated by our Marketing Apprentice, Jack Tully Lisle, who studied at Gateshead College himself just over a year ago. Drawing on his own experience as a student, Jack wanted to create a live project that would give current learners valuable insight into how photography is used within a commercial setting.

Throughout the day, Jack and Harleigh worked across various areas of the business, capturing the people, processes and craftsmanship that form part of our day-to-day operations. Their work provided a fresh perspective on our business while allowing them to apply their skills in a real-world environment.

At Astley, we are committed to supporting opportunities that help bridge the gap between education and industry. Collaborations like this not only provide students with practical experience and confidence in a professional workplace, but also strengthen our connections within the local community and support the development of future creative talent.

We would like to thank Jack and Harleigh for their enthusiasm and professionalism during their visit and wish them every success in their future studies and careers.

We look forward to showcasing some of the photography captured during the day across our marketing channels in the coming months.

A huge thank you to Make it Happen Signage Academy for delivering another fantastic training day last week in Leicester, supporting a group of our newer team members through their Signage Bootcamp.

Bringing together colleagues from across different areas of the business, the session provided a valuable introduction to the signage industry, helping to build knowledge, develop practical understanding, and strengthen awareness of the processes and best practices that underpin successful project delivery.

As our team continues to grow, investing in training and development remains a key priority. It’s great to see so many people embracing the opportunity to learn, ask questions, and expand their understanding of the industry.

Over the years, we’ve built a great relationship with Make it Happen Signage Academy and have seen first-hand the value their training provides. Their commitment to developing talent and raising standards across the industry continues to make a real difference.

A big thank you once again to Sam Armstrong and the Make it Happen team for delivering such an engaging and informative session. We look forward to continuing our partnership and creating more opportunities for our team to learn and develop in the future.

We’re pleased to share a behind-the-scenes look at one of our latest hospitality projects at Hilton Glasgow.

Captured high above the city skyline, this image shows our installation team preparing for works before the transformation began, with incredible views across Glasgow and the M8 below.

Having worked with Hilton for over 20 years, we’re proud to continue supporting the brand across a wide range of hospitality projects, delivering signage and branding solutions that help enhance the guest experience and strengthen brand presence.

Projects like this require careful planning, specialist access and close coordination to ensure installations are delivered safely and efficiently in busy city-centre environments. It’s the type of challenge our teams thrive on, combining technical expertise with a strong focus on quality and safety throughout.

While the finished result is always the highlight, moments like this give a great insight into the teamwork, experience and dedication involved in bringing these transformations to life.

Store Transformation Complete at Sainsbury’s Mere Green

We’re delighted to share the successful completion of another refurbishment project with Sainsbury’s — this time at their Mere Green store.

Working closely with the Sainsbury’s team, Astley was proud to deliver a complete signage and graphics package as part of the wider store transformation, helping bring the retailer’s latest branding principles to life across both the exterior and interior environment.

Delivering a Modern Retail Experience

The Mere Green refurbishment formed part of a significant programme of upgrades across the store, including a full refrigeration replacement and wider improvements designed to enhance the overall customer experience.

Our scope of works included the design, manufacture and installation of a wide range of signage and brand graphics throughout the store. From external branding through to internal wayfinding and promotional graphics, every element was carefully produced to align with Sainsbury’s evolving in-store identity.

Working in a Live Trading Environment

As with many retail refurbishment projects, maintaining day-to-day operations throughout the installation process was a key consideration.

Our teams worked efficiently and collaboratively to minimise disruption for both customers and staff, carefully coordinating works around the live trading environment while ensuring programme deadlines were achieved safely and effectively.

A Fantastic Finished Result

The completed store now delivers a refreshed, modern appearance that creates an improved experience for customers from the moment they arrive.

We’re proud to have supported another successful project with Sainsbury’s and would like to thank everyone involved for their collaboration throughout the refurbishment.

Congratulations to the Mere Green team on their newly transformed store — we wish them every success moving forward.

The growing pressure for ESG reporting

Think your job has no impact on your journey to net zero – think again! Now more than ever sustainability is no longer optional — it’s a legislative and reputational requirement that’s growing rapidly.

If you are responsible for an estate then you’ll be under increasing pressure to publish your own set of comprehensive ESG reports to demonstrate your steady progress towards achieving net zero. Branding and signage of this estate is often overlooked, but do form a visible and measurable part of these commitments.

From the energy use of your illuminated signage to the careful selection of materials, and the waste linked to estate branding must now be quantified, reported, and reduced. This makes your company’s signage strategy a key consideration.

Sustainable signage solutions

Astley has supported multiple clients with sustainable estate branding, owning the enhanced responsibility as a manufacturer to support our partners and clients in working more sustainably:

• Central Co-op: first solar-powered totem installed in Streethay, part of an estate-wide rollout.
• Co-op: award-winning solutions for their new sustainable store design
• Forecourts: Full LED conversions across national networks, slashing energy use and operating costs.
• Sustainable manufacturing practices through reduced transport, recycled materials, and UK-based production.
• ESG focused strategy to ensure all our processes and working relationships are carefully considered

Our in-house creative and production teams ensure to offer clients alternatives to traditional materials through comprehensive prototyping, alongside providing the associated advantages and compromises so clients are then aware of opportunities open to incorporate sustainability within their schemes.

By working with us, an EcoVadis Medal holder, you’re choosing a team that genuinely puts ESG commitments first. We do things the right way – fair, transparent, and ethical – because that’s what our clients expect and deserve. From how we design to how we make, our processes have been independently audited, placing us in the top 35% of companies worldwide for sustainability and responsible practice.

Compliance & innovative thinking

Sustainability isn’t just about using card or PVC-free materials though – it’s also about creating safe, compliant structures that stand the test of time. The longer your signage lasts, the fewer replacements you need, which makes a real difference. Thinking about where your signs will be used, how they’ll perform in those conditions, and designing with that in mind from the start, all help deliver a more sustainable, long-lasting solution.

Astley’s BS EN 1090 certification guarantees that large-scale fabricated signage meets strict safety and performance standards. Combine this with regular maintenance and a brand can answer sustainability objectives through simple effective planning and investment.

By designing for durability and energy efficiency, we help estates achieve sustainability goals without compromising compliance or brand impact.

Planning net zero rollouts

Embedding sustainability into every brand refresh cycle at the outset has to become the norm, offering property managers and marketing teams with more opportunity to reduce a carbon footprint alongside responding to wider company objectives. These can include:

Designing signage with energy efficiency as standard

Illumination is one of the most visible – and energy-hungry – aspects of estate branding. At Astley, we help estates make smarter choices by proposing a range of energy-saving solutions, from high-efficiency LED modules to solar-powered systems where viable.

Our in-house prototyping team plays a vital role in this process. By modelling and testing illumination setups, we can strike the right balance between aesthetic impact and energy consumption. Every module is carefully considered: the fewer modules required, the less energy used, without compromising on visibility or brand presence.

This approach ensures estates achieve maximum visual impact while significantly reducing operational costs and carbon footprint.

Factoring sustainability INTO capex planning

September is a critical point in the year for estate teams. Budgets for 2026 are being finalised, and decisions are being made about where to allocate capital expenditure (capex). For many businesses, branding and signage rollouts represent a significant portion of that investment -whether it’s a full estate rebrand, a selective refresh programme, or the launch of new properties into the portfolio.

The challenge? Capex budgets must balance cost, compliance, and customer experience. A poorly planned signage rollout can overshoot budgets, delay openings, or compromise on quality – all of which have knock-on effects across an estate.

This is where our proven expertise makes a difference.

We help estate teams stretch their budgets further by:

• Phasing rollouts so spend can be spread across financial years without losing brand consistency
• Value-engineering design packs so estates get the same brand impact at lower production costs
• Conducting surveys and condition reports that identify where assets can be reused, refurbished, or upgraded rather than replaced entirely
• Producing manufacture-ready drawings that reduce approval delays and installation risks, keeping projects on track and on budget

For estate directors, this means signage isn’t just a line item in the budget – it’s an investment in compliance, customer perception, and operational efficiency.

Choosing supply partners who can evidence their own ESG commitments

Through key policy implementation such as our Sustainable Procurement Policy and through investment in the training of our procurement team, we can ensure that supply partners we work with are just as passionate and committed to working towards net zero as we are. This means every supplier, material, and process is measured not just on cost and quality, but on environmental and social impact too. It’s how we keep sustainability at the heart of our procurement and help our clients meet their ESG goals with confidence.

Sustainability is not a bolt-on – it’s built into every estate solution we deliver!