Issue: July 2013
News | Business | Products | Training | Publications | Diary
in this issue
BMF Members’ Day Event
GfK launches Merchant Research Panel
BMF attracts new members
Official opening of new HQ sets the scene for a bigger, stronger BMF
Around the regions
Welcome to One Voice A big welcome to the new look BMF newsletter. Titled One Voice, this links with our new corporate strapline “one industry, one voice” and further emphasises the BMF’s role as a Merchant focussed trade association, with relevance to every builders merchant and every supplier to the Merchant industry in Britain. One Voice will truly be the voice of your industry and will report on news, trends, events, leglisation, and issues that will affect your business today and in the future.
BMF chairman, Terry Parker, and managing director, John Newcomb welcomed members old and new to the opening of the Builders Merchants Federation’s new headquarters at Coventry Business Park on 30th April 2013. The headquarters was officially opened by England Rugby hero, Martin Johnson and the Lord Mayor of Coventry, Councillor Tim Sawdon.
Produced quarterly, One Voice will be available free to members in a printed format or as a downloadable online pdf. If there are any topics that you would like us to feature, please make your suggestions to: chris.harding@bmf.org.uk
New website reflects new dynamic BMF To coincide with the move to Coventry, our website has undergone a complete makeover in both style and functionality. The look and feel of the new site reflects our standing as a modern professional organisation and is designed to appeal to our wide-ranging membership and other audiences. It is colourful and dynamic, encompassing our updated corporate identity and brand and utilising a wide range of high quality, industry-related images, and strong signposting to ensure
maximum user enjoyment. It’s not just stylish on the outside. The functionality is extremely slick, allowing users to access the precise information they require in bite sized chunks without having to scroll through a barrage of words to get there. MD, John Newcomb is delighted with the result, saying: “Our new website reflects both our new corporate identity and the brand image of the BMF in 2013. We are a dynamic organisation working on behalf of the whole industry. Our new on-line
presence reinforces this, enabling users to quickly access information on services, download latest reports and to find out about future events”. Visit our new site at www.bmf.org.uk
GfK launches Merchant Research Panel
Sustainable strategy implemented at new HQ
Global market research company, GfK has launched a new market research initiative with the merchant industry. This new service is a first for the merchanting sector, giving clarity on the sector’s overall performance and delivering a real-time insight into how different products and brands are performing. A Builders Merchants Panel is being created to gather data from across the industry – initially from national and large independent merchants – and is encouraging merchant members to participate to ensure the panel is fully representative of the sector. The service is due to start in September 2013, with the first results available at the end of Q4. The BMF will be the only trade body to be given access to GfK’s top-line merchant panel data and analytics on market growth rates, category and product performance. This means that, apart from the merchants participating in the GfK panel who will receive detailed information on their own performance in the market, only BMF members will have access to the valuable top-line information from this report. As an industry, there is a distinct lack of accurate market data. GfK data is used widely in other similar industries, and we believe that their expertise and experience will be extremely valuable to the building materials industry. This is a huge opportunity for our industry to benefit from accurate current data to understand channel performance, the growth of the sector, and the performance of categories and the brands operating within it. GfK reports that in other sectors there is evidence that their reports create a common language for buyers and manufacturers to compare the performance of products and brands. Furthermore, the data coming from the merchant panel will remove confusion and ambiguity and give clarity to suppliers and merchants alike on brand, product and sector performance. Contact: www.gfk.com/uk
and practical solution to ensure the building’s energy efficiency today, and ensuring flexibility to adapt the building in the longer term continuing to future proof it from ever increasing energy costs. A number of sustainable products and systems have been installed, including LED lighting, Solar PV and an A rated boiler which will reduce our energy usage by 30% and defray total energy costs by 75%, with a payback of 4 years or less.
Our newly refurbished headquarters building can be heralded as an exemplar project for sustainable office occupation and therefore and thus showcases the depth of knowledge and understanding that builders merchants have in this field. The BMF worked with member company, the Green Energy Centre (GEC) at John A. Stephens Ltd, to develop a sustainable strategy and practical solution to ensure the energy efficiency of its refurbished HQ. The Green Energy Centre conducted a review of energy efficiency together with the renewable opportunities of the building, and developed a sustainable, cost effective
Many of the initial energy cost reduction measures are concentrated on the ground floor, the major area of occupation and energy use. These include: • A new Vaillant A rated boiler • Thermal insulation throughout the building • Zoning of the ground floor air from the first floor air • Draught proofing • LED light fittings • Light occupancy sensors for intermittently occupied areas All products and systems were purchased through member John A Stephens GEC and installed through GEC partner Willmark Energy.
The new BMF attracts new members Merchant Members 3 Counties Timber and Building Supplies Ltd Allneeds Building & Construction Ltd. T/A ABC Depot Baudains Trade Supplies (BTS) Beatson’s Building Supplies Ltd Beckenham Building Supplies Ltd Beesley & Fildes Bridport Building Supplies Bulk Builders Merchants Cartmore Building Supply Co Ltd Jones & Shufflebottom Ltd Longwater Construction Supplies Ltd Martin & Partners Ltd Rembrand Timber Ltd
Merchant Members contd. Smith, E.H. (Builders Merchants) Ltd St. Andrews Timber & Building Supplies Ltd Undercover Roofing Supplies Supplier Members ABUS (UK) Ltd Gatic Hamilton Acorn Ltd Monument Tools Ltd Pendock Reisser Ltd TTS Tooltechnic Systems GB Ltd VELUX Company Ltd
Around the Regions
Scottish Region Regional meetings are back on the agenda in Scotland. Airth Castle was the venue for an excellent attendance by members and non members with Graham Bolton the new BMF Regional Manager attending his first meeting. A strong agenda saw delegates discussing industry issues along the impending vote for the independence of Scotland. One welcome discussion was the popular Burns Supper evening. This will be held on 24 January at the Trades Hall. Contact graham.bolton@bmf.org.uk or chris.harding@bmf.org.uk to register your interest.
Launch of Safety Plus gives merchants dedicated H&S We are pleased to announce the launch of our new Safety Plus business support service which has been developed specifically for builders merchants. Working with health and safety specialists Southall Associates Ltd, a radically different service is now available for our members. The new Safety Plus service comprises two key elements: • A bespoke consultancy service, which includes an initial assessment, tailored H&S policy documents, risk assessments and staff handbooks, a 6-monthly safety audit, plus ongoing advice and support. • An online safety management system, which banishes mountains of paperwork and enables merchants to easily and quickly manage H&S at every branch. The introduction of Safety Plus is the start of an ongoing drive by the BMF to review the business services currently offered and to bring new services to members. Best of
Breed services will be sought, researched and reviewed to ensure that members have the best advice and support available across the board. According to Southall Associates, builders merchants are one of the top three business types to fall foul of H&S law, which led to the development of bespoke software and consultancy which puts the merchant in charge of H&S, not the enforcement officer. Already the system has been adopted by over 100 builders merchants and has a 100% retention record. For more information about Safety Plus, call your BMF Regional Manager or BMF Head Office.
BURNS NIGHT IS BACK! The popular BMF Scottish Region Burns Night is back for 2014!
Young Merchants The BMF Young Merchants group met at the new BMF offices in Coventry last month. Chairman Simon Fleet (MD of Thomas Dudley), welcomed 30 attendees from both merchant and supplier companies, the biggest attendance for some time. Their debate included the forthcoming BMF Trade Credit Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme and how much social media plays an important part in business. To join the group contact chris.harding@bmf.org.uk
Following an absence of three years the event has been brought back by popular demand and will take place at the Free Trades Hall in Glasgow on Friday 24 January. There are various sponsorship opportunities available and tables can be booked as well as individual bookings. The event is proving very popular and several tables are booked already. Make sure you don’t miss it, put the date in your diary now. Contact graham.bolton@bmf.org.uk or chris.harding@bmf.org.uk for further details.
The BMF Trade Credit Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme ADE CREDIT E TR
R E GUA ANTEE NC
ERPRISE FINA NT
BMF offers you access to a brand new type of affordable guarantee cover to help you grow your business. Only available to BMF members, this new scheme will enable you to offer future or existing SME trade customers credit that you would normally have to refuse. It comes as a result of the government’s decision to widen the scope of the existing
Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme under which the government shares the risk of extending SME’s cash flow finance by providing government guarantees of 75% on new lending. The BMF is one of a select group of partner organisations the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) has chosen to work with to pilot this concept.
As part of the new corporate identity programme, we have also changed our
September 2013 12th BMF Yorkshire Region, Ganton 17th-18th BMF Members’ Day Event, Whittlebury Hall Hotel, Towcester, Northants
The BMF TCEFG will have an initial capacity to facilitate up to £50m of additional trade credit. Applications are invited, with the level of cover you require and will be accepted on a first come first served basis. Event includes: For more information contact: peter.matthews@bmf.org.uk
• Awards Dinner • Keynote speakers • BMF Workshops
New identity and strapline unveiled Most of you will have now seen our new logo and corporate identity which we launched alongside the opening of our new headquarters. Our new identity represents an evolutionary change whilst retaining the brand heritage of a Trade Federation with a history stretching back over 100 years. The most significant changes are the addition of the colour red to the logo, and the incorporation of our full name within the main body of the logo. The addition of red reflects the organisation’s new dynamism, while the new Red, White and Blue corporate colours mirror those of the national flag to highlight our inherent Britishness, inclusivity and spread of influence.
Dates for your Diary
• BMF Golf Classic Competition - sponsored by Monument Tools • BMF Silverstone Experience 24th-25th Visit the BMF stand at Timber Expo Exhibition, NEC
October 2013 3rd BMF North East Region, Ramside Hall Hotel, Durham strapline to better reflect the Vision we presented at Members’ Day in October last year. The new strapline “one industry, one voice”, emphasises our role as a Merchant focussed trade association and its relevance to every builders merchant and every supplier to the Merchant Industry in Britain. Guidelines for the use of the BMF corporate identity are available from Christine Harding at chris.harding@bmf.org.uk
Builders Merchants Federation Limited 1180 Elliott Court, Coventry Business Park, Herald Avenue, Coventry CV5 6UB Tel: 02476 854980 | Fax: 02476 854981 Email: info@bmf.org.uk | www.bmf.org.uk Registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965 No 31516R
8th BMF South West Region, RGB, Tiverton 29th BMF Central Southern Region, WPL, Waterlooville
November 2013 14th BMF London & South East Region, Lords Cricket Ground, London