An ambitious new service – Build2Pro UK – has gone on online, aiming to bring business benefits to trade professionals including joiners and carpenters.
The service provides news, business information, advice on best practice, health and safety, legislation and consultancy, legal and technical information, waste management, trade events, and product literature.
The site at www.build2pro.co.uk is split into six sectors, one of which is dedicated to joinery and carpentry with links to relevant timber and builders’ merchants and suppliers.
Build2Pro UK is backed by Saint-Gobain, owner of Jewson, International Timber and International Decorative Surfaces; and Kalon Decorative Products, part of decorative coatings company SigmaKalon.
Saint-Gobain has an initial budget of €100m for e-commerce and IT projects for 2000-03 and a significant chunk of this will be invested in Build2Pro.
The service was successfully launched in France last year following research which showed that more than half of all professional tradesmen have access to the internet. The UK is second to get the service and further launches are planned in western Europe in 2003.
