News

New construction figures published by the ONS show a fall in output, which decreased by 1.7% in February – the largest fall in monthly growth since October 2019. New housing was 7.7% down on the previous month, the second largest monthly fall since 2010. Private housing repair and maintenance showed …

Graham Plumbers’ Merchant has launched a new website – Graham Direct. With an emphasis on providing transparency of pricing, Graham Direct lists the price excluding VAT of all products in Graham’s Always Available range, with new products being added regularly. Once they’ve found the product they want online, users can …

Oil boiler specialist Hounsfield Boilers, has donated a 12/19 Kitchen Model to a leading electrical, oil and water training centre in East Anglia. Norwich Gas, Electrical and Oil, known as NGEO, has been training and assessing heating professionals and apprentices since 2000. The company is the hub for OFTEC’s ‘Competent …

Builders merchants trade association, the Builders Merchants Federation has increased its support services to help its members meet the challenges arising from the Covid-19 pandemic. These new services include regular updates from the BMF’s daily briefings with the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, specialist Forums in the form …

Employees at the Preston site of boiler manufacturer Baxi Heating are swapping the use of their 3D printers from making prototype boiler components to frames for protective face masks. It has been well publicised that the NHS is crying out for more PPE and, having seen an article about 3D …

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been designed to help businesses that would otherwise be forced to lay off staff in the face of the unprecedented disruption caused by COVID-19. All businesses with a PAYE scheme in place on 28 February 2020, regardless of size or sector, will be able …

North London-based builders merchant MP Moran has been busy sourcing and distributing PPE donations to local hospitals and Hospices. Operations director Bart Murphy and his wife Marissa started a fundraising campaign last week to to get desperately needed PPE to local hospitals, hospices and front-lne NHS workers. He says: “Yesterday …

In the present uncertain times, it seems only sensible for merchants to protect their investment in timber and wood products by making sure they are stored in good condition until business perks up again. The key points are to: Keep it dry Keep it clean Keep it flat Avoid outdoor …

Plumbers merchant group Wolseley has increased the availability of heating spares to support installers as they complete essential repairs and maintenance during the Coronavirus pandemic. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Wolseley has seen demand for such products remain high. As a result, the company has made a stock of …

The Builders Merchants Federation (BMF) is set to launch two further Regional Training Centres with the assistance of Marshalls, the UK’s leading hard landscaping supplier. The new Regional Training Centres will be hosted in Marshalls Design Space facilities in central Birmingham and in Clerkenwell, London. They will both open after …