Jewson hosts annual conference and exhibition

More than 100 suppliers and 1,000 branch managers, senior managers and sales executives attended Jewson’s annual Internal Build Exhibition & Suppliers’ Conference at the Harrogate International Centre on February 1-2.

The event provides suppliers with an opportunity to promote new products and Jewson to communicate its strategy for the year ahead, said managing director Peter Hindle.

The exhibition was zoned by product type and included BSW Timber, James Jones & Sons, Grange Fencing, Simpson Strong-Tie, Jeld-Wen, Norbord, SAM Mouldings and XL Joinery as well as Jewson sister companies, International Timber, International Decorative Services, Pasquill and Isover.

Build Center management attended their own “mini-conference” within the overall event and a dinner on February 1, but were excluded from the suppliers’ exhibition on anti-competition grounds. In welcoming Build Center to the event, Mr Hindle said it would give them “a taste of what we’ll have going forward”.

Saint-Gobain’s acquisition of Build Center and its subsequent assimilation into Jewson is still subject to approval by the Office of Fair Trading. A decision is expected later this month.

At an awards ceremony held at the dinner, Simpson Strong-Tie won the suppliers’ Award for Innovation. Within Jewson Kammy Wilson won the Trainee of the Year Award while Marcus Jefford, manager of the Greenworks Training Academy, won the Service Excellence Award.

An interview with Peter Hindle and other key Jewson management will appear in a future issue of TTJ.