Time is money and getting the best value out of the time spent on a business event or even a customer visit can be a challenge.

But when an organisation offers 10 top quality appointments with buyers from companies purchasing timber products, in one place, on one day, for just £75 – including lunch – it has to be worth thinking about. Add in the fact that it’s focused on the specific topic of “sustainable solutions” and it becomes almost irresistible. And, when the venue is the amazing Emirates Stadium in North London, it’s also worth going just for the view!

Action Sustainability is a not-for-profit social enterprise organisation and is a registered Community Enterprise Company, sponsored by Defra. As its website states it “aims to continuously extend, lead and inspire best practice in sustainable procurement”.

Project manager Emma-Jane Allen explained the basics of how a Meet the Buyer day works – a variation on the speed-dating theme. “We bring together a wide range of buyers, who are interested in sourcing sustainable products. That includes all sorts of companies, but inevitably construction-based businesses feature heavily. It’s then a case of finding suppliers to meet them and we arrange a series of 15-minute appointments that give both parties a chance to find out if there’s anything of mutual interest, together with a lunchtime seminar.”

Sustainability

Sustainability is top of many agendas these days, said director Shaun McCarthy, who ran the seminar. “In the 70s it was safety, in the 80s it was quality, in the 90s it was e-commerce and now it’s sustainability,” he said.

Surprisingly the organisers found that getting enough buyers to attend the March 15 event was easy, but finding a wide range of sellers was far harder. This clearly shows that the timber industry has a great opportunity to put its case forward at future events.

There was a huge variety of buyers, representing all manner of businesses, with construction-related companies making up a large contingent, including Skanska, Willmott Dixon, various medium-sized businesses, architects, hotels, universities and Transport for London (TFL).

TFL has a massive annual expenditure – and every reason to look for new suppliers. “With a release of £638m in extra money to be spent over the next five years, we’re looking to add 10 more main suppliers and we need to find out about sustainable product availability,” said TFL’s representative at the event, Maria Boyd. Ms Boyd was able to provide information on TFL’s main contractor partners and the type of works in which they are involved.

One Planet Products is a bulk-buying organisation for housing associations and developers and supplier manager Jess Hrivnak ran through its reasons for attending Meet the Buyers. “We push sustainability into mainstream construction, negotiating rebates and discounts, but not actually doing the buying. We’re a Defra-sponsored not-for-profit organisation, which launched in January and we are looking to sign up suppliers on behalf of our members.”

As each individual meeting finished, ‘sellers’ moved onto their next appointment or went for a break to catch up on notes. All manner of networking opportunities were also organised, including a networking board, which allowed people to leave messages for other visitors. With around 100 sellers and 50 buyers, the event was constantly busy.

Timber companies

Several timber product companies were among the contingent of sellers and Vince Glessock of timber supplier MH Southern, was pleased with the day’s proceedings. “This is a great chance to put our message across, while finding out a lot more about what customers are looking for,” he said.

Mark Hillier of Sonae UK was also impressed. “It has been very good, well attended and we’ve had lots of interest,” he said, adding that he was able to inform potential buyers that Sonae UK uses 400,000 tonnes of wood per year, with 98% from recycled wood waste.

Looking at other sellers, who covered a huge range of products and services, also reinforced just how strong the timber message is on sustainability. Buyers were genuinely keen to listen about chain of custody and all of the issues surrounding verification of legal and sustainable timber products – and, more to the point, according to an exit survey, 96% of attending buyers said they would definitely or probably be doing business with suppliers met at the event.

Action Sustainability has an ongoing programme of Meet the Buyer events, details of which can be found at www.actionsustainability.com. “We’re very keen to hear from more timber companies if they have a sustainable message to tell,” said Ms Allen.

The next Meet the Buyer event will be held at the Windmill Village Hotel in Coventry on July 5.