Jewson chief awarded MBE

Peter Hindle, chief executive of Saint-Gobain Building Distribution and managing director of Jewson, has been awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours List for services to the building industry and to charity.

Hindle has worked in the building industry for nearly 40 years, over 30 years of them for Jewson, where he started at working at branch level to become managing director in 1999. In 2003, following Saint-Gobain’s acquisition of Jewson, he became chief executive for Saint-Gobain Building Distribution UK & Ireland.

Initiatives since then have included the development of Minster the specialist insulation and drylining distributor, and Greenworks, which provides renewable energy solutions as well as a highly successful trainee scheme which has grown and nurtured the talents of nearly 500 bright individuals under the Young Merchant Programme.

Hindle also established the Together programme, an annual fundraising initiative for Saint-Gobain Building Distribution UK & Ireland. Since its inception in 2002 a total of £1.5 million has been donated to nominated charities including Wish Upon a Star, Great Ormond Street and Cancer Research UK. The programme currently supports the British Heart Foundation.

On receiving news of the MBE, he said: “I am extremely honoured to be awarded with such an accolade. However this isn’t only recognition of my efforts, but the effort and dedication of the 12,000 people employed by Saint-Gobain Building Distribution UK & Ireland and our suppliers and customers that collectively have made the business and our charitable programme the success it is today. I would like to take this opportunity to wholeheartedly thank them all for their support.”