COMMENT


Two becomes one?


C


onsolidation has long been a factor in this industry. It has been a defining characteristic for years. Companies start-up, grow, develop, merge with others, grow, develop, merge with others, while at the same time leaving a space where other, newer companies can enter, grow, develop, merge with others and so on.


In some cases, it has been a merger, a meeting of minds, others have been more hostile take-overs, some have simply been a case of there not being sufficient market for them all. It’s something we have also seen with buying groups: GCM, WBM, Unimer, Prospero, Simba, Chandor, Cemco are all names that have disappeared and become part of a bigger whole. Now we see it with industry organisations. They exist to serve the needs of their members within the structure of the marketplace in which those members operate. So, 40 years after the possibility was first revealed in the 1981 pages of this publication, the merger of the Institute of Builders Merchants and the Builders Merchants Federation has gone through. Three years ago, this was proposed once again at a Parliamentary lunch and even got as far as being voted on at the Institute AGM, only to fall at the 75%-in- favour hurdle. That particular proposal caused a fair amount of hoo-har, possibly because sufficient groundwork hadn’t been put in beforehand, but it left the door open for further discussions which have now, it transpires, come to fruition.


From the beginning of this month, all the memberships, assets and activities of the Institute will transfer to the BMF. There will be a new management committee running the IoBM, made up of two existing IoBM directors, two BMF directors and two from the BMF’s Young Merchants group.


This move makes perfect sense to me. In the last few years, the BMF has had a long hard look at what it does and how it can best be of relevance to its customer base and the wider building materials


COVER LINES John Guest FC BMJ May21.qxp_Layout 1 23/4/21 10:38 Page 1


The original push-fit inventors, John Guest, part of the RWC family of brands, celebrates


60 years since the brand’s inception.


Established in 1961 by John Guest, the company developed the world’s first push-fit technology designed initially for compressed air in 1974.


market in which they operate. Hence, the strapline to its vision: Building Excellence in Materials Supply. The Institute, in turn, has long been about recognising and celebrating the skills, experience, knowledge and professionalism of everyone employed in the industry – merchant and supplier alike. The key difference, of course, is that the BMF’s membership is made up of companies. The Institute of Builders Merchants is, and always has been, about the individual seeking to advance their professionalism and standing in the industry, via training and education, regardless of which company they are employed by and that company’s membership, or not, of the BMF. This means that people working for small independent merchants, medium independents, large regional merchants and national chains could all rub shoulders with each other and with people working for bathroom manufacturers, brick makers, paint manufacturers or timber suppliers. All doing so with the common goal of learning and sharing information that would help them to be better and more professional in the industry that all had chosen to work in.


The two organisations have never been mutually exclusive and share the common aim of improving the industry. The BMF will continue with its vision of Building Excellence in Materials Supply. The IoBM will continue to build excellence in people, backed up by the greater resources of the BMF. The key difference is that the Institute offered that opportunity to everyone working in the sector, whether yard operative or trade counter sales, manager or director, as long as they had the hunger to improve and develop their careers. I think that is an important distinction and, moving forward, I really hope that the proposed independent governance of the IoBM, within the parameters of the BMF, will be able to maintain it. BMJ


Fiona Russell-Horne Group Managing Editor - BMJ


CONTACTS Builders Merchants Journal


Datateam Business Media London Road Maidstone Kent ME15 8LY Tel: 01622 687031 www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net


EDITORIAL Group Managing Editor: Fiona Russell Horne 01622 699101 07721 841382 frussell-horne@datateam.co.uk


Assistant editor Catrin Jones 01622 699186


cjones@datateam.co.uk


Production Controller: Nic Mandeville


Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.


“ WB Yeats


CONTENTS 4 Newsround


News from around the industry


8 Business Helpdesk The BMF Experts look at employment issues


10 People


Who’s moved where and 10 Minutes With…


12 Viewpoint


BMJ columnists look at making the most of tax credits, at the move to digital for merchants and farming out work.


18 Merchant Focus Small but determined, BMC has just opened a new branch.


20 Sustainability SUDS and the underground options for saving the planet.


26 Bathrooms & Showers


Trends, developments and making showrooms work in a pandemic.


32 Kitchens


Enforced working from home has changed our ideas of suitable kitchen design.


ADVERTISING Publication Manager: Dawn Tucker 01622 699148 07934 731232 dtucker@datateam.co.uk


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North & midlands sales: David Harman 01772 462596


david.harman@talktalk.net


Publisher: Paul Ryder


pryder@datateam.co.uk CIRCULATION


ABC audited average circulation July 2018-June 2019: 7,801


SUBSCRIPTIONS


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© Datateam Business Media Ltd 2021.


All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, electronic or mechanical including photo-copying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written


consent of the publisher. The title Builders Merchants Journal is registered at Stationers’ Hall. Suppliers have contributed towards production costs of some photographs in this issue.


37 Legislation The UK Government’s carbon emissions goals examined.


39 BMJ Industry Awards


Get your nominations in for the event of the year.


40 BMF Industry Voice News and views from the BMF.


42 Product news The latest product developments from suppliers


46 And Finally News and the BMJ Prize Crossword


May 2021 www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net 3 ”


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