October saw the official foundation of the Builders Merchants Federation’s (BMF’s) Northern Ireland Region, and the Federation is boosting support for its growing membership in Northern Ireland in a number of ways.

Eighteen people, including BMF managing director, John Newcomb and BMF chairman, Peter Hindle MBE, attended the inaugural BMF Northern Ireland Regional Meeting, which took place at Windsor Park, the national football stadium and was sponsored by Lagan Cement Products.

During the day, David Haldane was appointed as the BMF’s first ever Northern Ireland regional chairman. Mr Haldane is managing director of Haldane Fisher, one of the region’s largest independent builders’ merchants with 10 of its 16 branches in Northern Ireland.

Mr Haldane said: “I am honoured to be the first Northern Ireland regional chairman for the BMF. We had a fantastic response from merchants and suppliers to our first meeting, which offered many insights into the support the BMF can bring to all of us operating in Northern Ireland. There were useful discussions in the room and I am looking forward to playing my part in bringing even more members together for future meetings.”

During his visit to Northern Ireland Mr Newcomb also opened the latest BMF Regional Centre of Excellence at the Keystone Group’s design, production and distribution centre in Cookstown. This will provide ongoing meeting and training facilities for BMF events in the region.

Mr Newcomb said: “I’m delighted that so many members from Northern Ireland are keen to participate and work with the BMF. A trade association is only as strong as its members and I am confident that our latest region will quickly form a cohesive group. We recognise that we must engage with our members in their back yard and our Northern Ireland regional manager, Graham Bolton, will be working closely with our new regional chairman and Keystone, who have offered their superb facility as our first centre of excellence here, to ensure members can meet locally on a regular basis.”