NEWS EXTRA
FOCUSING ON THE FUTURE
BMF Chairman Richard Hill set the scene for the formal part of the annual Members Day conference.
TAXATION IS HIGH, whether you are dead or alive and there is great speculation about what the Budget will bring.
Looking into the near future there’s another set of challenges coming for us all. The skills shortage, challenging pay levels, finding and keeping good staff. there’s also the relentless advance of AI, with the question as to whether it will be an aid or a threat to your business. Linked to that, is the digitalisation of well, almost everything. In parallel to this, there are challenges in the way that society is changing, and how those changes are influencing the way business is transacted. As your trade association, we think we should support you where we can, when we can, in meeting these challenges and help you use them as an opportunity to build your business, whether a merchant or a supplier.
Here are some of the initiatives
we have running that will help you engage with the future. The first, of course, is Building Materials Careers. This is a programme designed to promote and support you, our members, to the public and to the UK workforce.
This website is world class. Awareness of BM Careers has grown, the first recruitments have benn made as a direct consequence of it, and, the more you engage with this imitative, the better our investment is it is for you.
Skills development. Our training schemes aim to help you develop your teams, while the IOBM aims to channel that skills development on a personal level. We see skills development as a key part of our support for you and your businesses in the future. Building materials Data
Services.and the DataYard. This is another big investment by us and NMBS, the key merchant groups
and the ERP providers. It is a big bold brave initiative that will become the biggest collaboration project our sector has ever seen, and it will ensure that our sector can meet the digital challenges of tomorrow. I think this project truly is the collective us engaging with the future.
My message to you all is don’t miss out. make sure your company gets involved. Our merchant of the future project. This is a seriously exciting initiative. As the new generation of merchant branches is being opened, we have started a project that will research this important and very interesting topic. We intend to provide inspiration for all, and enable broad based discussion and debate as to what the merchant of the future could be. This project not only engages with the future but has the potential to shape it.
As well as the headline BMF rewards achievement at Members’ Day Awards
LOUISE PARKES, marketing manager at Colchester independent merchant Collier & Catchpole, was crowned BMF Young Merchant Achiever at the BMF Annual Achievement Awards. Declan Taylor from Fernco, Jamie Pierce of Agency53, and Chris Hayward, were also big winners. The Young Achiever
Runner-Up was Curtis Wherry from Bradfords Building Supplies Ltd, and the Bronze winner was Craig Smith. from BPS Builders Merchants.
Taylor won Young Service 8
Achiever, while Pierce was named Young Service Achiever. Helen Kirkby of Resapol, was named Young Marketing Achiever. NMBS’ out-going CEO, Hayward was presented with the BMF Honorary Achievement Award.
The other winners on the night
were: BMF Training Company of the Year - Robert Price (Builders’ Merchants) Ltd
Most Engaged Service Member - Klipboard
Most Engaged Supplier Award - Knauf Insulation UK & Ireland,
Most Engaged Merchant Award - Harlow Timber Group,
Sustainability Award - The Pallet LOOP,
BMF Apprentice of the Year - Ja’ul Alam from IBC Buying Group,
BMF Best Performing Student- IoBM Diploma in Merchant Management - Simon Wood from Illingworth Ingham Ltd,
Best Performing Online Student (BMF Building Blocks) - Mark
Osbourne from BJ Mullen Ltd, MasterMerchant – Knauf Insulation UK & Ireland DragonBoat Race – wienerberger UK’s Floplast Team
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net October 2025
initiatives, there is the day-to- day work the BMF does on your behalf. Of particular note is our work on government influence, This is an area that has seen increasing member engagement. In summary, the BMF
workload is big and the task are substantial. You can keep up with what we are doing on your behalf via our new corporate video and our new website. I hope that you can see that we are supporting you, our member as best we can, to support you to engage with the challenges and the opportunities that the future will bring. BMJ
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