News

Moray MP Douglas Ross visited KBM main branch and head office on Friday 6th July. He met up with Jeff Smith MD and fellow director Kevin Mitchell along with Graham Bolton BMF Regional Manager. During his visit, Jeff Smith gave Douglas Ross a brief history of how KBM started and …

Construction students at Chichester College are celebrating following the college’s Construction Prize Giving ceremony. The awards are held annually and aim to highlight students’ achievements in plumbing, carpentry, joinery, brickwork, painting and decorating, and electrical and construction skills. Winners are selected by the lecturing teams at the college and are …

Colin Clark, the  MP for Gordon, visited the Inverurie premises of builders merchant GPH on Friday 6 July. He was shown around by  chairman Mike Macauley  and managing director Grant Shewan and directors Ken Findlay and John Glover. The group discussed a number of issues relating to the merchanting industry, …

Family-owned Sussex independent builders merchant company, Chandlers Building Supplies, is helping its Petworth branch manager, Jason Austin to raise money for its 2018 charity partner, the Construction Industry Helpline. Austin is organising a fun 42-mile bike ride across Sussex on August 18. The cycle route starts at the company’s Petworth …

Mark Bradley, managing director of plumbers merchant Plumbase, is taking  over as Chair of the Builders Merchants Federation’s Plumbing & Heating Forum in November. Bradley’s background in sales and operations included early roles in retail before moving into the trade sector, with roles at Dulux Decorator Centres, BSS Group, Buck …

Builders and plumber merchant group Grafton saw UK merchanting revenue creep ahead by 6.7% for the period 1 January 2018 to 30 June 2018 compared with the same period a year ago. In a trading update released this morning (July 11 2018), the group announced that group revenue had risen …

A charity open day at the Brighton branch of independent builders merchant Chandlers Building Supplies raked in £500 for a local homeless charity, Off The Fence. The event celebrated the newly extended branch and attracted the support of local councillor, Robert Nemeth, and neighbour Fat Boy Slim (Norman Cook). Big …

Architect and television presenter George Clarke will be a Keynote Speaker at the Builders Merchants Federation’s Young Merchants Conference in October. Clarke is both a campaigner and an educator and in 2017 founded MOBIE – the Ministry of Building and Innovation and Education –an educational charity working with colleges and …

ONS figures published today show that construction output increased 2.9% month-on-month in May. This was the fastest monthly growth rate in two years, reflecting an uptick in activity following adverse weather conditions during the first quarter. Compared to a year earlier, output rose 1.6%, but contracted by 1.7% on a …

The construction sector rallied in June as output rose to its highest level since September – a marked improvement to the situation at the beginning of the year. The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index® (PMI® ) posted 53.1 in June, up from 52.5 in May and …