Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
The Institute Builders Merchants, the organisation that represents individuals working in the merchant industry, has decided not to merge with the Builders Merchants Federation.
The decision was taken at the IoBM’s Annual General Meeting on November 7. A proposal had been put to the meeting by President Allan Durning and the board of governers to merge with the BMF in a bid to reinvigorate the image and the purpose of the IOBM.
The result of the vote, taking into account all proxy votes, was 26 For and 18 Against the Special Resolution. However, this was below the 75% in favour needed to pass the resolution. As a result, the existing Board of Governors and Durning have resigned and Dave Saunders is now President.
The Board had previously organised an emergency meeting about the “Special Resolution” in June 2018 but the meeting was unable to come to a conclusion due to insufficient timescales. The current board was in favour of joining with the BMF, believing that the IOBM needed the injection of youth and modern attitude that the BMF has recently been reaping the benefits of.
However, opposing this was a group of past governors, led by past President Dave Saunders.
The Special Resolution’s main points behind the idea of merging for both the IOBM and the BMF were: “The IOBM exists to build an excellent talent pool for the building materials supply industry. The IOBM’s purpose is to enlarge the pool of excellent individuals available to BMF member companies. This enables the BMF to fulfil its purpose of strengthening the building materials supply industry. The IOBM and BMF are proposing to merge for a common purpose, which is to build excellence in the materials supply industry. The BMF is for companies, while the IOBM enables individuals to build their skills through apprenticeships, diplomas and continuing professional development programmes.” The proposal also included a new strapline for the IoBM: “Building excellent people in materials supply”.
A Counter-Proposal from those opposing began “We understand that many Members of our present Board no longer see a future as an independent professional Institute…By remaining independent, our Institute will be able to acknowledge all companies ‘ training and offer all those employed in the Builders Merchant industry a professional qualification to aim for.
“There are capable industry-known Members who not only still see a future for this institute but believe in its independence as a professional body and are prepared to spend the next year searching for ideas, industry support and funding.”
