COMMENT
Materials matters
B
uilding Materials Careers, the beating heart of the BMF’s Sector Awareness Programme, got its official industry unveiling at Members’ Day last month. The website is now out there, populated by masses of content, all generated in-industry, and including real, live sector people, not stock photography models. Yes, there are images of happy, shiny people going about their day-to-day jobs, but also case studies, video clips, information on the different sectors within the sector. Crucially, there will also be live job vacancies. Building Materials Careers is about positioning the industry as vibrant, diverse, forward-thinking, one where a huge variety of people, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or academic inclination can find a career. For years we’ve known the sector has something of an image problem. It’s not, in common parlance, sexy. It’s still seen as a bit grubby, all cement dust and yard sweepings, not glamorous and vibrant. Even though, as the images from our BMJ Industry Awards, and BMF Members Day Awards, show, we do scrub up well.
Merchants, distributors and materials manufacturers all form part of the symbiotic whole that is the Building Materials Sector. Whatever a merchant sells to a builder has to have been designed, engineered, made, delivered, stocked, sold, financed, supported, publicised. So far so good. Well, more than good, to be honest. It’s been a long time in the gestating, and many people from across the sector were involved in birthing this baby. It’s going to take the whole building materials village to bring it up. So, get on board. Get involved. Use the Toolkit, the materials available, and make sure that your company is being seen to Make A Material Difference. And yet. We do still have an issue. There is, you
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Hep2O from Wavin, the original push-fit system, now offers a keyless option. Developed with plumbers for a quick, easy and reliable installation, Hep2O Keyless doesn’t require a demounting key – just twist and push. It also features a smaller, streamlined design and comes straight out of the bag pre-locked for a speedier fit.
Builders Merchants Journal Datateam Business Media London Road Maidstone Kent ME15 8LY Tel: 01622 687031
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EDITORIAL
Group Managing Editor: Fiona Russell Horne 01622 699101 07721 841382 frussell-horne@datateam.
co.uk
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Production Controller: Nic Mandeville
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© Datateam Business Media Ltd 2024. 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.
see, no point in going out to schools and colleges, armed with PowerPoints and freebie branded merchandise, inspiring and educating sixth- formers and year 11s about the career options this sector offers, if there are no roles for them to aspire to.
Extensive as the programme is, it will take a long time for things to change so that youngsters pondering their steps post-mainstream education search for Building Materials Careers. At the moment, they are more likely to look for ‘apprenticeships’. In fact, there are 8 million searches on the Find An Apprenticeship website every month. There are serious business benefits to running an apprenticeship programme. Not least, that a great deal of the work, is done by other people – LEAP, in terms of the BMF and NMBS offering – and the government funds a big chunk of it. What an apprenticeship programme also gives a business is a way of building a talent pipeline. Young people want structured career paths, and to feel that their contribution is valued. What better way of showing them than by clearly investing in training them in a structured way? The BMF made its Apprenticeship Pledge which merchants are committing to, but that target of 15,000 new sector apprentices by 2030, needs companies to commit to it. Thousands of applications each month are being turned down because there simply aren’t sufficient apprenticeship vacancies in the sector. It’s not as easy as me saying ‘just get on and employ some apprentices’ I get that. But we need a real commitment to building the future now. Otherwise the Sector Awareness Programme will fail to reach its potential. BMJ
Fiona Russell Horne Group Managing Editor - BMJ
“
The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.
John F Kennedy ”
CONTENTS 4 Newsround
The news from around the industry 8 News Extra
Reporting from the BMF Annual Members day Conference and Awards.
16 People Who’s moved where and 10 Minutes With…
17 Focus on Apprenticeships What NMBS and MKM are doing to boost take up of Apprenticeships in the sector.
18 Business Helpdesk The Sector Awareness Programme kicks off.
22 Viewpoint
Comment and thought leadership from our guest columnists
26 Timber Fencing and figures
27 Decorating
A look behind the scenes at brush maker Hamilton
30 Merchant Focus
170 years old and still going strong. BMJ drops in on George Bence
32 Transport
Fork truck training and fuel duty issues highlighted
34 Bathrooms and showers Matching householders’ design aspirations
42 BMF Industry Voice The BMF’s own pages bring you all their news
44 Product News
Latest products and developments from suppliers
46 And Finally News and the prize crossword
SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT The BMJ Industry Awards 2024: the winners
October 2024
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net 3
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