News

Places for London (Transport for London’s wholly owned commercial property company) has announced that it has teamed up with Construction Youth Trust on its educational engagement programme. Over the course of the next three years, Places for London and Construction Youth Trust aims to reach 6,750 young Londoners through a …

The UK has entered a recession with gross domestic production (GDP) shrinking by 0.3% in the final three months of 2023, which followed a 0.1% contraction in the July-September period – according to the Office for National Statistics. The news comes at bad time for builders’ merchants as construction output …

Timber Development UK (TDUK) – the UK trade association for the timber supply chain – has released average carbon data for the 10 major timber product categories – completely free for all to access. TDUK’s new independently verified Embodied Carbon Data for Timber Products calculates weighted average A1-A4 embodied carbon …

Builders merchant group Travis Perkins has entered into a three-year partnership with Alzheimer’s Society, a charity that works with people affected by dementia. The partnership will raise vital funds and awareness for the support, care and research that Alzheimer’s Society carries out. Colleagues will take part in a variety of …

Independent Welsh builders’ merchant Robert Price has bought Terry Howell Timber and Builders’ Merchants for an undisclosed sum. Terry Howell, a long-established family business with branches in Newport and Pontypool, South Wales will continue to trade under the Terry Howell brand in the short term, as the Monmouthshire-based merchant works …

The government has announced that every council in England will be told that they will need to prioritise brownfield developments and instructed to be less bureaucratic and more flexible in applying policies that halt housebuilding on brownfield land. The bar for refusing brownfield plans will also be made much higher …

The Builders Merchants Federation (BMF) has called on the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, to invest in property repair, maintenance and improvement to create purposeful jobs in every region and boost much-needed local growth across the country. The government has previously announced increased spending on energy efficiency for homes, businesses, and public …

The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has criticised Labour’s plans to scale back its low-carbon policies, which was announced by Keir Starmer. Brian Berry, chief executive of the federation, explained that Labour’s new plans were “simply not enough”; the Labour party has reduced its plan to retrofit from 19 million …

The Builders Merchants Federation (BMF) has announced its conference and awards will take place on September 18-19, at the Leonardo Hotel and Conference Venue at Hinckley Island in Leicestershire. It is operating under the theme of “Building a Material Difference”, the BMF Conference and Awards will be hosted by the …

The UK’s first practical training centre for the fire door industry has opened in Bury, Greater Manchester. Purpose built, the 3,000ft² Training Academy has been launched by Fire Door Maintenance (FDM) to raise safety standards across the industry. Comprising different types of fire doors and components from a range of …