The thirteenth housing minister in 12 years, and the fourth in 2022, has been named as Lee Rowley, who ran, unsuccessfully, Kemi Badenoch’s campaign to be Prime Minister. The MP for North East Derbyshire, he replaces Marcus Jones, who lasted just two months, after taking over from Stuart Andrew.

Ibstock, the manufacturer of clay and concrete building products, and Earth Friendly Concrete (EFC) has entered into a new partnership to create ultra-low carbon concrete products. The partnership will see EFC’s ultra-low carbon, zero cement technology integrated into Ibstock’s diverse portfolio of high-performance building products for the construction industry, including …

Welsh builders merchant Robert Price is opening of a new, state-of-the-art air source heat pump showroom in Newport tomorrow (Wednesday 28th), to help people across Wales make a confident and successful transition to sustainable home heating. Teaming up with heat pump manufacturer, Daikin, the Sustainable Energy Centre is being opened …

Property expert, writer and broadcaster, Kunle Barker is to speak at the first Institute of Builders Merchants  conference next week. Barker, who is a regular host and speaker at Grand Designs and UK Construction Week, will be joining keynote speaker Lt Col (Retd) Stewart Hill and David Kilburn, founder of …

Builders merchant buying group The Combined Buying Association (CBA) has undertaken a strategic review and, to achieve more national coverage, is opening up to new members. CBA is the longest standing building material purchasing consortium and members are predominantly made up of a small number of significant regional independent merchants. …

The Construction Youth Trust and the Maddie Rose Campaign are calling for organisations across the supplier and merchanting sector to change their branding across social media to the colour yellow to raise awareness of Maddie’s Day (22 September). The Maddie Rose Campaign was set up in the memory and celebration …

The tearoom lady called me love. All the shop ladies called me love and most of the men called me mate. I hadn’t been here twelve hours and already they loved me There are some things that the British do better than anyone else. And Monday September 19th was one …

Builders merchants Lords Builders Merchants, Matthew and Rosemond and Kent Blaxill, as well as suppliers Midland Lead and Marsh Industries, and service member Stirling Warrington were honoured with awards at the Builders Merchants Federation Annual Members’ Day Conference and Awards last week. The 2022 BMF Young Merchant Achievers were: winner …

This royal throne of kings, this scepter’d isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-Paradise. Some weeks nothing happens. You get up, go to work, come home, shout at the children, go to bed and start all over again. Nothing of note happens. Last week …

Brick manufacturer Ibstock plc, has raised an impressive £170,000 over the last three years to support its charity partner Shelter. Colleagues across multiple Ibstock sites have undertaken a series of fundraising activities, including team sleep outs and cycle-a-thons covering over 2000km. All funds have been matched by the business to …