The bespoke facility will provide opportunities for current and new employees to learn new skills and develop existing ones.

Wolseley is celebrating half a century at its site in Boroughbridge Road, Ripon and has unveiled a major refurbishment – including a new training academy – as the specialist merchant looks ahead to the next 50 years.

Simon Oakland, Chief Executive of Wolseley, and the Right Worshipful Eamon Parkin, Mayor of Ripon, cut the ribbon on the company’s newly refurbished Support Centre at an open day at the start of this month.

Servicing hundreds of branches across the UK, Wolseley’s Support Centre has been the cornerstone of the business since opening in 1971. The investment in the site – both in terms of the building and its facilities, and in the people who work there – reflects this continuing importance.

The centrepiece of the refurbished site is the new training academy. This bespoke facility will provide opportunities for current and new employees to learn new skills and develop existing ones. It will operate in tandem with Wolseley’s new apprenticeship scheme, which will provide opportunities for young people to kickstart their career.

The newly refurbished building has also been designed to better embrace blended working and provide a more comfortable and modern environment for the Wolseley team.

Oakland said: “As each of the sectors we operate in adapt to new challenges and exciting opportunities, high-quality support has never been more vital. Our Support Centre at Ripon is a critical part of our business, and the recent investment means we’re better equipped than ever to serve our branches and customers.”

During the open day, Wolseley welcomed the families of its staff to tour the refurbished site and to enjoy (socially distanced) activities in the site car park including a hog roast and a performance from the Ripon City Band.

This is the latest chapter of a history in Ripon that stretches back to 1971, when ‘The Wolseley-Hughes Group’ as it was back then – comprising OBC, Yorkshire Heating Supplies and Granville Controls – first opened on Boroughbridge Road.

By 1973 – two years after the Ripon HQ was first established – the companies merged into Wolseley-Hughes Merchants, while the site underwent further expansion in 1985.