PEOPLE 10 MINUTES WITH:
LUKE BROOKS Senior commercial manager UK and Ireland at Tarmac
What is your current role and how long have you been doing it? Senior commercial manager UK and Ireland at Tarmac and I have been in the role for five months.
What does your role entail? Mainly leading the sales team to solve problems and develop solutions for customers. I also develop and implement the Tarmac business strategy, aligned with the wider CRH plan.
How did you get started in this industry? I joined Tarmac as an Assistant Quarry Manager in 2004.
What roles were you doing before? Before this, I held several key leadership and operational roles, including general manager for Surfacing in Yorkshire and Lancashire, business manager for Readymix in Yorkshire and the Humber, and a range of other operational and commercial area positions.
What would you like to achieve? I would like to see my team grow and develop to become more successful and deliver the best experience possible for our customers.
What have been the highlights so far? Being given the opportunity to move around into various roles and divisions within Tarmac which have broadend my experiences and exposed me to many different perspectives of the industry.
What are the main issues for builders merchants and for the construction industry at the moment? It’s hard to ignore the skills gap and challenges with attracting new talent in trade and construction. Then there’s the wave of new technology that everyone needs to quickly become familiar with and, of course, the industry’s progress towards Net Zero against a backdrop of rising costs and reduced margins. More onerous regulations have their impact as well, with changes in the Building Safety Act causing working practices to change to mitigate potential cost increases and time delays.
If you could make one major change to the industry right now, what would it be? Reduce red tape, streamline planning and challenge processes, so that project delivery from inception to delivery is accelerated.
If you could go back to the start of your career, what piece of advice would you give yourself? That the preconceived fear of an upcoming situation is usually worse than the reality is. Don’t let fear hold you back from trying things.
What keeps you busy at the weekends? It’s mostly parental taxi duties ferrying offspring to football and rugby games, following Leicester Tigers and fishing (if I have any time left).
What’s your favourite book? Favourite film?
Favourite book: In Pursuit of the Largest by Terry Hearn Favourite film: Band of Brothers (a small cheat as it’s a miniseries)
If you could be a superhero, which super- power would you choose? Omnipresence - being present in multiple places at the same time. I never seem to have enough time to do everything I want to do, so being able to achieve more things at the same time would be great! BMJ
ON THE MOVE
The IPG, the UK’s leading membership group for independent plumbing and heating stores and bathroom showrooms, is delighted to announce the appointment of Paul Hetherington to its board of directors. Paul’s experience includes senior leadership roles such as CEO of Marshall Tufflex, He is also non-executive chair of IBC Group.
Talasey has appointed Lisa Young to the newly created role of managing
director.Young brings more than ten years’ experience in the merchant industry, having previously had a five-year spell as commercial director at Jewson, and, most recently, serving as European group category director at Stark Group.
Decorative aggregate supplier Long Rake Spar has announced the appointment of Shane McCormick as national sales director, a promotion from his current role as national sales manager. In his new role, McCormick will lead the company’s sales strategy, set key business objectives and build strong, collaborative relationships with both new and existing customers. His appointment marks a strategic step forward in strengthening the company’s commitment to sustainable growth and market leadership.
City Plumbing, part of Highbourne Group, has appointed Liz Taylor as its new chief commercial officer, as part of the senior leadership team. Taylor joins Highbourne Group with more than 20 years of commercial experience, bringing a retail perspective to the merchanting industry from her different roles including, most recently,
commercial director at Morrisons. Prior to that, she spent over eight years at Marks & Spencer and nine years at Asda.
10
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net June 2025
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