Stax Trade Centres are sponsoring the publication of this year's Rainy Day Trust's Annual Review. The Rainy Day Trust is the industry charity for the hardware and merchant trades.

Private housing starts are set to drop a further 32% this year, taking numbers down to 70,000 - their 1924 level, according to the Construction Products Association.

Adams Rite Europe Ltd, the security solutions providers, have announced four new appointments.

Peter Hindle, chief executive of Saint-Gobain Building Distribution and managing director of Jewson, has been awarded an MBE in the New Year's Honours List for services to the building industry and to charity.

TAPS, the plumbers merchant arm of builders merchants Thompson Building Supplies opened a new branch yesterday.

Comap, the manufacturer plumbing and heating products people, have appointed Neil Johnston as managing director.

Castle Cement's new pollution-busting photocatalytic cement has been used to make a sculpture of a car in Dundee city centre.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has welcomed the Bank of England decision to cut interest rates but said it was unlikely to make much difference to lending levels.

Adolf Merkle, the owner of Heidelberg Cement - parent company of Hanson and Castle Cement - died last Monday evening after apparently throwing himself under a train.

Builders merchant group Grafton Group plc have warned that their 2008 earnings and profits will be towards the 'lower end of market expectations'.