MERCHANT FOCUS: ROBERT PRICE ROBERT PRICE STEPS UP TO THE LOW CARBON CHALLENGE
Fiona Russell Horne meets an independent merchant aiming to help its customers meet their carbon reduction objectives.
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f you really want to embrace the low – or even zero – carbon commitment of the various governments then you need to ensure that those tasked with building low carbon homes know what products are available for them to do it with. That was the thinking behind the Sustainable Energy Centre at the Newport branch of Welsh independent builders’ merchant Robert Price. With the UK Government having set out its net zero target of 2050, the Welsh Government has set its own, earlier interim targets.
“This earlier target date for decarbonisation meant that many of our social housing contracts were coming to us and asking our advice on how they could decarbonise,” says Kassie Williams, sustainable partnerships manager at Robert Price. “When we looked into it, we realised there was nowhere for people to come and look at all these new products together as a whole house approach. So we created the centre to bring people together and educate them about what products are out there, how they work and how they can be used to help decarbonise construction.”
That was two years ago, then Covid happened, so things went on the proverbial back burner for a while, and the official launch of the centre was in June 2022. Williams says that the opening was attended by around 120-130 housing associations, builders and other interested parties. “We had presentations in both the training academy room and the board room. It took place from 10am-3pm, and I was really surprised at how much interest there was. Everyone stayed to the very end for the presentations, and there was a good buzz on the day,” she says. The Centre is divided into logical zones from Building Fabric & Insulation, Solar PV, Thermal Energy Storage and Inverters &
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Batteries through to Air Source Heat Pumps, Electric Heating, Water Saving, Intelligent Energy Management and even Electric Vehicle Charging Points.
It covers information on products from plasterboard, internal and external wall insulation to insulated paint, integrated solar pv, battery storage, a wall of heat pumps, a wall of electric heating, and alternatives for hot water tanks. Williams says: “It’s all about being on top of the market and introducing these products to our customers. Unless they go to every single show or exhibition, it’s impossible for them to see everything.” She adds that when it came to working out which suppliers to go with, the company looked at all the sectors in the market that needed a solution, and getting a balance between local provision and the market leaders in the various sectors. “We like to work and invest in Welsh companies, which is
also very important to the Welsh government, however, Daikin were our main supporting partner in launching the centre. We’ve made a conscious commitment to one supply partner in each sector, so if we’re doing heat pumps it’s Daikin. We didn’t want to split our allegiance between multiple suppliers, and they’ve given us their commitment to invest back into the centre.”
Mixed offering
The idea is to have a one-stop-shop for products that can help on the journey to net zero, says Robert Price marketing director Molly Pike. “You would more usually find some of these products in roofing merchants, some would be in an electrical merchant, while others would be in a plumber’s merchants. We wanted to make them all available in one space for our customers,” she says.
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net January 2023
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