No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it for anyone else It was National Apprenticeship Week last week. How do I know this? I know this because my email inbox was awash with news releases highlighting it. There were case studies galore, comment, news pieces, …

Around 140 jobs may be at risk after Finnish wood products corporation Metsä Wood announced it is to scale back its UK operations. In a statement, the company said the move its due to: “significant changes in the competitive landscape and evolving customer requirements”. It also said that the developments …

It is with great sadness that BMJ has learned of the death of Maurice Tyler, after a short illness, at the age of 82. A titan of the timber trade, he worked at Alsford Timber, Buildbase, Malden Timber and Lathams during his career. Having joined the family timber business of …

That time offer’d sorrow; This, general joy. Talk to builders and they all say they are really busy. But the question that comes to mind is this: are they busy-busy because there’s so much work on? Or are they busy because they are doing “more with less” to quote Teresa …

Builders merchant Jewson has opened its latest Branch of the Future, by redeveloping the St Austell branch. On Friday February 6, nearly 700 attendees gathered to get a first look at everything on offer in the newly updated branch, on the town’s Holmbush Industrial Estate. As part of the event. …

Construction product manufacturers endured a bruising end to 2025, with heavyside sales sliding sharply and lightside growth losing momentum, the Construction Products Association’s latest State of Trade Survey shows. In Q4, a net balance of 81% of heavyside producers said sales volumes fell compared with the previous quarter, which was …

Building materials manufacturer Tarmac has been fined £633,300 after an employee’s legs were crushed on a production line. Richard Ogunleye was working for Tarmac Building Products Limited’s factory in Linford, Essex imn July 2022 when he entered a fenced area to manually clean and inspect frames. The frames, which carry …

UK construction activity stablisised at the start of 2026, with January data pointing to a much slower rate of decline than at the end of last year, according to the latest  seasonally adjusted S&P Global UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI). The Index rose sharply to 46.4 in January from …

The nominations window is now open for the BMJ Industry Awards 2026, the merchant industry awards programme that truly reflects the opinions of the industry, because it’s voted for by the people who work in the sector day in day out. Merchants, their customers and their suppliers are the ones …

There are some promotions in life, which, independent of the more substantial rewards they offer, acquire peculiar value and dignity The wider world is just a bit too horrible to contemplate writing about this week, so, for once, I’m going to stick to stuff that’s more relevant to the day-job. …