News

Construction materials business, Tarmac, developed a National Skills and Safety Park near Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, which was opened by His Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge. The park will provide practical training for emerging industry talent – including apprentices, graduates and those retraining from other sectors. His Royal Highness met …

Lakes is launching Lakes Partners – a mutually beneficial partnership programme that helps stockists sell more. Lakes Partners is built on a new Customer Commitment Charter, developed to drive awareness and demand for Lakes’ stockist partners, along with new service and support initiatives to help customers grow their business profitably …

The Chancellor must be bold, imaginative and use his Budget to lay the foundations for a net-zero carbon economy and action to future-proof new homes and retrofit existing properties, according to the Builders Merchants Federation (BMF). Tackling regional imbalances in productivity by investing further in training and skills to support …

Four Smith Brothers staff members recently underwent training to become mental health first aiders after partaking in a course ran by Mental Health First Aid, England (MHFA). Today, one in four people suffer from a mental health-related issue in the workplace, yet the subject is still taboo in many businesses; with just …

Scott Parnell – the civils and drainage supplies specialist – has announced the opening of two new sales offices at Alton in Hampshire and Oldham, Greater Manchester. The two new national account offices will support the company’s national sales business, headed up by Ian Griggs and already operating out of …

Builders merchant group Grafton saw a good performance from its Irish and Netherlands merchanting businesses but weaker demand for the UK operations to see an overall fall in revenue of 1% to £2,924m for the financial year ended December 31 2019. Average daily like-for-like Group revenue decreased by 0.4 per …

Group revenue at builders and plumbers merchant group Travis Perkins rose 3.2% to £6.9bn for the financial year ended December 31 2019, the group announced this morning (March 3). Sales were 3.8% ahead on a like-for-like basis, driven by a good performance from the Merchant businesses despite the challenging market …

Brick manufacturer Ibstock is to build a new £45m clay brick factory in Walsall. Chief executive Joe Hudson said: “Within our Clay division, which is operating in a market in which demand for bricks exceeds that available from domestic manufacturing capacity, we have a number of opportunities to enhance capacity …

Howarth Timber & Building Supplies has completed an extensive refurbishment of its Darwen branch as part of a wider programme of investment across the UK.      Howarth, a Yorkshire-headquartered business which marks its 180th year this year, has operated its Darwen branch on Spring Vale Lane since 2007. Offering products …

County Building Supplies is working to help raise £250,000 for one of its customers, Ashley who has been diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer and Liver Metastases. County Building Supplies has been a National Buying Group (NBG) Partner since the group was formed and has always prided itself on going above and …