MKM Building Supplies is to provide building materials to maintain Hull’s entire social housing stock after landing a three year, multi-million pound contract. The company has been appointed as sole supplier to Kingstown Works (KWL), which is responsible for the maintenance and repair of Hull City Council’s housing stock and other private sites.

MKM Building Supplies is to provide building materials to maintain Hull’s entire social housing stock after landing a three year, multi-million pound contract. The company has been appointed as sole supplier to Kingstown Works (KWL), which is responsible for the maintenance and repair of Hull City Council’s housing stock and other private sites.

The contract, which is worth around £2.6m each year, will see MKM recruit two or three apprentices at its Hull headquarters to work exclusively on the KWL deal. Won via an extensive tendering process, it is extendable by one year based on performance and gets underway from 1 September.

Kevin Redmore, business leader at Kingwood-based KWL, said appointing a local supplier was excellent news for both companies as well as for the wider city region. Previously the firm had worked with two suppliers to provide building materials and timber, but Mr Redmore said identifying a single source of supplies has enabled it reduce costs.

"We have used two main suppliers ever since the company was formed in 2007 but with contracts being due for renewal we decided to re-evaluate our approach to the process," he explained. "The tender was bias heavily towards innovation in terms of operational processes, support and the way the financials are structured; MKM Building Supplies measured up in all aspects of the requirements. We are confident working closely with the company will assist us in delivering our services within the cost base and time scales agreed with our customers, whilst benefitting from the coherent and efficient service a single supplier is able provide."

KWL currently maintains around 25,000 social houses and a further 1,000 houses on private sites.

Keith Eames, joint branch director at MKM Hull, said the contract was an important one for the company to win because it amounted to a "local company looking after local people".

He said: "Naturally we are very pleased to have been appointed by KWL because we were the only local company in the tendering process, so from that point of view we considered it ours to lose. This is a significant contract for us and will be run entirely out of our Hull branch, with KWL collecting some of the supplies and us delivering some.

"As a business deeply rooted in the city winning it is a source of great satisfaction to the entire management team here because it means we will be playing a part in ensuring local people are looked after, jobs are secured here in the long term and we are creating further employment for Hull people."




Caption: (L-r) Mike Thomas, joint MKM branch director at Hull; Kevin Redmore, business leader at KWL; Keith Eames, joint branch director at MKM Hull, and Marc Beedham, electrician at KWL.