NBP holds super-depot trade showcase

Builders merchant Northern Building Plastics’ held a two-day trade event at its new Hemel Hempstead super depot last week (15-16 April ) with a range of suppliers putting on product demonstrations and advice sessions.

The Hemel Hempstead super depot marks NBP’s first physical presence in the South of England and aims to repeat the success of its existing Bolton, Leeds, Birtley and Hinckley super depots. A 25,000 sq ft facility, situated just off Junction 8 of the M1, it has the capacity to hold a vast range of products on site, in project quantities and all colours and sizes. The key product lines include fascia, soffit, guttering, drainage and cladding. It will also operate a fleet of up to 20 vehicles, which will in time expand NBP’s total fleet to over 70, further reinforcing its next-day, direct-to-site delivery on thousands of building products. The new site will service deliveries across the south of England, with London, the South-East and as far down as Cornwall, part of the new expanded territory.

Among the trade suppliers taking part were James Hardie, who ran the Hardie Plank Challenge, where competitors raced against the clock to install James Hardie cladding with precision and speed, with the quickest winning prizes across both days. Swish had their full product range on display, along with pull-up banners, catalogues and samples, including the new NatureClad product and Freefoam which showcased their roofline, gutter, cladding, and geo’s ranges.

Local homeless charity DENS also received a boost from the trade days, with £200 raised from various activities taking place as part of the event.

NBP sales director Steve Jones, said: “The trade days are a great opportunity for the new Hemel Hempstead super depot to showcase the extensive range of products we offer from the site. With key suppliers hosting live product demonstrations, Q and As and providing advice on how to get the best from the products we supply, the trade days were informative, engaging and commercially beneficial to customers attending during the two days. The new Hemel Hempstead site has been well received by customers since it opened in February this year. It’s already establishing a strong reputation with local tradespeople and we look forward to doing even more to support those customers in the future.”