PEOPLE 10 MINUTES WITH: GLEN STOCCO


Co-founder and Director of Business Operations of Plane & Simple


What is your current role and how long have you been doing it?


I’m a Co-founder and Director of Business Operations of online DIY marketplace, Plane & Simple. We fully launched in summer 2021, but we started work on the business in late 2020.


What does your role entail?


I set the direction for the business and lead our incredible team. The aim of Plane & Simple is to connect great independent builders merchants with local online DIY customers.


How did you get started in this industry? I started my career as a professional civil engineer, then studied for an MBA, before taking a leap into the exciting world of start-ups and online marketplace businesses. It was a chance meeting with the sixth-generation leadership of the Donaldson Group (Andrew and Mike Donaldson) on an Entrepreneurial Scotland programme in Boston that germinated the idea of Plane & Simple. And the rest is history!


What roles were you doing before and how did they prepare you for this one? Before starting Plane & Simple, I worked in property development and asset management and was part of the leadership team for an online marketplace business – and I also had a stint running a craft cider business. Plane & Simple is a perfect combination of these skills, joining my entrepreneurial and online marketplace


Grant UK has welcomed a new area sales manager and a sales support engineer to its team. Steven Paton has joined as the Area Sales Manager for the North of Scotland. Paton has been


involved in the heating and plumbing industry for 19 years. Rob Dyer has joined as the sales support engineer for the Midlands and East of England. Dyer has been working in the heating industry for over 20 years.


experience with my engineering roots in the building sector.


What would you like to achieve in your role? The merchant sector is seeing an increase in digitisation. This brings fantastic opportunities and real industry progress. I’d like to make a difference in the industry by empowering independent builders merchants to take advantage of this change and to revel in the benefits that a specialist marketplace can have for them.


I’d like to revolutionise the way building materials are purchased online from great local independent builders merchants – ‘lifting the veil’ on these sometimes hidden gems.


What has been the highlight of your career so far?


I’m fortunate to be able to think of countless highlights from my working life, but to focus on the most recent, it would definitely be seeing Plane & Simple come to fruition. It’s incredibly satisfying when we put so much effort and hard work into building it from scratch, to see it being developed and brought to market and now seeing our merchant partners reap the rewards.


What do you see as the main issues for builders merchants and for the construction industry at the moment? Consumer behaviour has changed with


the move to online purchasing. There has been a big change in market dynamics for merchants; they’re seeing a need to improve their online proposition and digital experience to stay competitive in a digital world and drive incremental profit. People still want to buy from a trusted merchant, and the desire to ‘buy local’ has grown considerably. The transformation in customer behaviours and service expectations means merchants are having to engage both DIY and trade customers with a compelling omni- channel strategy. While more people are looking to buy building supplies online, local firms and their teams still play an important role in building and maintaining personal relationships.


If you could go back to the start of your career, what piece of advice would you give yourself?


As a natural introvert, especially in my early career, I’d tell myself to get out there and take every chance you can to speak with people; you never know what will come from a conversation.


What keeps you busy at the weekends? Getting outside enjoying nature as much as possible and planning new places to visit.


If you’re at the bar – what are you drinking? Living in Scotland, I’d have to go for a pint and a whisky. Though I was given my first espresso martini at the BMF London regional meeting, and I could definitely be converted.


What’s your favourite book?


I enjoy reading books and listening to podcasts on business and entrepreneurialism, but if I’m unwinding with fiction, it’s got to be Ian Rankin’s Rebus detective novels.


If you could be a superhero, what super- power would you choose? It would be very useful to be able to fly or teleport to allow for faster and more frequent travel. Although virtual meetings are great, there’s nothing like meeting in person. BMJ


ON THE MOVE


Cheshire Mouldings has made three appointments to senior roles. Mike Philips has been appointed to the role of Key Accounts Manager. He will be responsible for managing the company’s nationwide network of merchants and stockists, working closely with each customer to ensure their specific requirements


are successfully met. Gary Lowe has been appointed to the role of head of production for its Normans Road manufacturing facility. Lowe will be tasked with ensuring consistent repeat quality across Cheshire Mouldings’ timber building products. Lowe has over 35 years’ experience in manufacturing and product engineering. Gary Smart has been appointed as Cheshire Mouldings’ new Health and Safety Manager.


Keystone and IG Lintels has appointed Leah Coleman as its new marketing manager. Coleman takes on the marketing manager position following 18 years in marketing within the construction and engineering sectors. She has worked across marketing and advertising, websites, social media, branding, and sales.


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Encon Construction Products, part of The Encon Group, has appointed Richard Wade as its new sales director for the specialist division. He has previously worked for leading brands such as Keyline, Tarmac and Burdens.


www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net June 2022


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