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.
As more of our industry quite rightly looks at sustainability and ESG as part of their business strategies, maintaining a standard such as an Ecovadis medal becomes more challenging…however we’re delighted to announce that we are Bronze certified for another year!
This means that we remain in the top 35% globally for all those organisations assessed for this standard which is a huge accolade and a credit to our internal passion and commitment of our teams in how we approach our environmental, social and governance responsibilities.
Onwards now to achieving our Silver!
We’re thrilled to announce the winner of our Road Safety Competition in partnership with Harlow Green Primary School is…Eli!!! A huge well done to Eli who will now have his sign made and installed by us. And a huge well done to the two runners up – Aria and Esther, who created some amazing posters and made it especially difficult for our staff to decide on a final winner.
We’ll be sharing more details of Eli’s poster production over the next few weeks so be sure to follow us on social and subscribe to our newsletter to be kept up to date.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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:
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.
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:
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.
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!
It’s a familiar saying—and one that Estate and Facilities Managers should take seriously when it comes to signage.
As summer sets in, the warmer, drier months provide the ideal window to review, repair, and reinforce signage across your estate—before shorter days and unpredictable weather make inspections difficult and failures more likely.
According to the Met Office, 2023 saw a sharp rise in extreme weather events, including record-breaking wind and rainfall. These conditions aren’t seasonal anomalies—they’re part of a growing trend. For estate signage, this means increased exposure to:
The longer you leave it, the riskier—and more expensive—it becomes.
Your signage is often the first physical representation of your brand. If it’s faded, unlit, or damaged, it reflects poorly on the business.
A 2023 YouGov survey found:
This affects footfall, customer trust, and employee pride—all of which are vital for any brand.
Good weather, lighter evenings, and easier site access make summer the perfect season for estate-wide signage checks. Proactive maintenance now allows for:
✅ Safer inspections and installations
✅ Quicker turnaround on parts and fabrication
✅ Planned maintenance schedules—not reactive callouts
✅ Reduced risk of emergency failure in winter
✅ Fully illuminated and compliant brand presentation
If you’re responsible for property or brand integrity in any capacity—this message is for you:
At Astley, we support national brands with comprehensive signage audits, proactive maintenance programmes, and full rebranding rollouts. Our BS EN 1090 certification means we can assess and manufacture structural signage safely and in full compliance with legislation—ideal for larger format signs and wind-exposed areas.
Following the retirement of Gavin Redhead after 29 years at Astley, we are delighted to be able to announce that James Mavi has stepped into the Managing Director role at Astley.
James was hired as Head of Sales in 2018 before moving into the Sales & Marketing Director role since 2022.
James has played a major role in driving our sales performance and business growth and has offered insight into customer relationships and market dynamics which has been instrumental in positioning us as a trusted partner to clients across a wide range of industries.
As Managing Director, James intends to build upon the company’s solid foundation while introducing new initiatives to futureproof operations and enhance service delivery.
“I’m incredibly excited about where the company is going and have always believed that Astley is genuinely unique in this sector, having always been the leader in key areas such as innovation and now sustainability,” says James.
“My new role means that I’m simply building on our success to date and I’m proud I get to play an important part in the company’s story.”
James will review our core business processes, identifying opportunities for increased efficiency, service enhancement, and meaningful progress across all areas of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activity.
His leadership will focus on embedding ESG principles into the heart of Astley operations, from environmental performance and ethical governance to fostering a positive, inclusive workplace culture for all employees.
“I’ve always said that it’s our team that take us from good to great, and alongside producing quality branding solutions, I think that nurturing a positive environment for our workforce to thrive in is essential in the company’s success.”
#teamastley can’t wait to see how James drives us forward into a new chapter for the business.