Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
Independent builders merchant EH Smith opened its new-look Leicester branch this week as it aims to boost performance during a national brick shortage.
The latest £100,000 redevelopment at its Enderby, Leicester branch was launched by company CEO and Chair of the Fortis buying group John Parker, with customers also joining in the celebrations at a hog roast event with England and Leicester Tigers RFU star Tom Croft.
John Parker said: “This £100,000 redevelopment has transformed our site in Leicester, to meet demand, at a time when the construction industry is really starting to take off.
“The construction sector’s return to growth, which has been building for a number of months, is led by the new housing sector. What we’re seeing now is that this growth is being hampered by the national shortage of bricks. We’re even seeing some manufacturers closing their order books until further notice.
“This is really frustrating the ability of the industry to build its way out of recession. Fortunately, due to EH Smith’s long and close relationships with key manufacturers, more than 13 million bricks in stock and the ability of our brick specialists to match from more than 2,000 brick types, we are probably in a much better position than most.”
As well as this investment in the Leicester branch – and last year’s redevelopment of the Shirley, Solihull site – a smaller-scale redevelopment of the Longbridge, Birmingham branch is also currently underway and the new branch in Olton, Solihull is reporting positive footfall figures after launching at the end of 2013.
