NEWS
Seven new appointments at Simon Acres Group
Leading KBB and merchant service provider Simon Acres Group, (SAGL) has appointed seven new staff in response to growing demand across a number of its specialist services. Three of the new posts are with KBB Recruitment, the number one job board for the kbb industry, which is experiencing considerable growth since the appointment of Henesh Chotai as director. Louis Martin, Laura Cousins and Amber Taylor join KBB Recruitment, which recently relocated to its own dedicated premises. Shoned Mirza and Tracy Chan have joined Simon Acres Group to enhance the administrative support services across the group.
Haidee Moule and Cara Tomkins take up positions in the
New research shows over 112,000 UK trade businesses have been set up since the first Covid-19 lockdown
Since the first Coronavirus lockdown was announced on 23rd March 2020, over 112,000 trade businesses have been set up in the UK, new research has revealed. The study, conducted by
groups headhunt service Simon Acres Recruitment, Haidee in the talent acquisition team and Cara as a resource. Simon Acres Group MD, Simon Acres says, “All of our specialists services, dedicated to supporting KBB and merchant businesses, are experiencing considerable growth.
“Businesses that benefit
from our comprehensive range of services view us as a trusted partner, and more of our customers are choosing to take multiple services from our portfolio. “With a positive outlook for the KBB sector we are confident that we can continue to build on our success and deliver amazing results for our clients.”
Keter continues its sustainability drive with latest community initiative
Keter, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of home and garden products, recently launched
its ‘Community
Connection’ initiative, reinforcing its commitment to its ongoing sustainability drive. On Friday 17 September, Keter hosted a series of litter picking events in Banbury and Cornwall. Sixty five employees at its sites,
which spanned across all areas of the business including Production, Warehouse, Office, and Sales, all joined together to help clean up the local areas. In Banbury, the team marked the start of ‘World Clean-Up Day’ and litter picked in the town’s Spiceball Country Park and its vicinity, meanwhile
in Cornwall, to coincide with the start of the Harris brand launches TV ad campaign
Leading decorating tools brand, Harris is launching a major consumer advertising campaign this autumn using terrestrial TV and out of home, backed up by PR, social and influencer activity as well as promotional material for retail stockists. The brand awareness campaign educates the nation’s DIY’ers about the detrimental effects of using poor quality decorating tools using a fun and engaging creative, while positioning Harris
brushes, rollers and decorating tools as the choice for great results. The #BlameTheBrush campaign which has the strapline ‘do the
job properly with Harris’ represents a seven figure investment for the company. Its narrative style, using animated characters to represent the main drawbacks of cheap, disposable painting tools which most irritate DIY decorators, is designed for longevity with additional storylines appearing in spring 2022. Media includes Channel 4, with proximity ads alongside decorating programmes, plus ITV Hub, Drama and Really. The outdoor campaign utilises prime sites adjacent to leading DIY stores.
4 DIY WEEK SEPTEMBER 2021
‘Great British Beach Clean’ event, employees helped clean up Portreath Beach. Across the two events, the Keter teams picked up enough rubbish to fill five Keter Store It Out storage units, the equivalent of nearly 6000L. The company plans to recycle any suitable resin collected for use in its production. The Community Connection initiative is another step forward in Keter’s ongoing sustainability drive. Keter
has also recently
been named as a finalist in the Business Culture Awards in the Best Learning Initiative and Best Wellbeing Initiative categories. • Keter’s Sustainability Report has just been published, read more here:
https://bit.ly/3w3BG3k
IronmongeryDirect, one of the UK’s largest suppliers of specialist ironmongery, analysed over one million rows of Companies House data and found that more than one in ten (11%) of all businesses set up during the pandemic (1,019,970) are in the trade industry. Of the 112,047 new companies in the sector, almost a fifth (19%) focus on the ‘development of building products’, with 20,753 start- ups - more than any other trade category. Similar projects also take up the next three spots, with ‘construction of domestic buildings’ and ‘commercial buildings’ both making the top five. Companies specialising in ‘electrical installation’
are not
behind, with 8,194 new businesses, while ‘plumbing, heat and air- conditioning installation’ firms also feature highly.
Homebase has kickstarted new jobs for young people in Staffordshire
Homebase is creating new jobs in Newcastle-under-Lyme this September. As the first home and garden retailer taking part in the government’s Kickstart Scheme, Homebase will create 300 jobs across Britain for young people.
The scheme has generated two jobs in the Newcastle-under-Lyme
store, giving people aged 16-24 in the local area the chance to learn valuable new skills, gain real life work experience and build confidence so that they are prepared to take on the challenges and exciting prospects in the bright careers that lie ahead. One of Newcastle-under-Lyme’s newest team members is Nahum Morganti who chose the Scheme to develop his skills following his volunteering experience with St John’s Ambulance. He explains: “Before the scheme, I completed a BTEC at college but couldn’t find the right role for me. I had been searching for 10 months when I came across Kickstart at the job centre – I took up the opportunity to apply straight away. “From volunteering, I knew that I wanted to build on my existing skills and focus on boosting my confidence. I was familiar with my local Homebase store and I’ve only ever heard great things about working there, so I knew it would be the right choice for me.” The six-month scheme will include skill-based training throughout,
providing each young person with the opportunity to gain valuable experience. From stock management processes, digital sales, customer relationship management and health and safety processes, to problem-solving, organisation and teamwork, these are just some of the skills that Homebase’s new team members can expect to learn and take with them into their future careers. In partnership with The Prince’s Trust, Homebase’s new team members will receive support every step of the way.
Family-run Kent company wins two trade awards
Covers Timber & Builders Merchants has won two awards at the TTJ Awards 2021. Organised by the Timber Trades Journal (TTJ), the annual TTJ Awards is one of the industry’s leading
awards events recognising service
excellence and product quality across the timber sector.
Covers, which has 14 depots across the south of England, was announced as the winner of Timber Merchant of the Year – an award that was voted for by customers and suppliers based on their product and service offerings – and the Smart Manufacturing Award, which was judged by the awards panel. Neil Woods, Timber Director of Covers, said:
“We are absolutely thrilled to bring home two awards especially when we were up against such very strong competition. It’s testament to our
far
amazing staff and all the hard work they do ensuring our products are of the finest quality and that our service is always delivered with a smile. I would like to thank them for their outstanding achievement and all our customers and suppliers who voted for us to win.”
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