(L-R): Natasha Blacklock, BMF Office Manager & PA to CEO, Jeremy Harris, BMF Marketing Manager, John Newcomb BMF CEO, Jane Shepherd, MD Shepherd PR, Dianne Lucas, MD CMDi, host
The BMF secured two prestigious prizes at the Association Excellence Awards 2025. The building materials trade body won the Best Member Engagement Award for a second consecutive year, in addition to a Silver Award for the Best Awareness Campaign, for their innovative BMCareers programme, run by strategic marketing partners CMDi for the last 3 years.
The Association Excellence Awards acknowledge and reward best practice and excellence in the essential work that associations, trade bodies, unions and professional organisations conduct on behalf of their members.
The impact of the BMF’s BMCareers programme was acknowledged in both awards. The independent judges widely commended BMCareers for uniting members to tackle the next-generation recruitment challenge, demonstrating that strategic member engagement can foster meaningful change to benefit an entire sector. They also noted the positive influence the programme is having in a crowded recruitment marketplace, where a career in building materials has long been overlooked.
This is in addition to recognition at Memcom 2025, as Highly Commended in the category of Best Trade Association.
BMF CEO, John Newcomb said:
“To be honoured in multiple Association of Excellence Award categories in consecutive years is an incredible achievement, and a fantastic tribute to the hard work and professionalism of the BMF team. CMDi have been our strategic partners for the last 8 years and appointed to set-up the programme from the very beginning. They have helped us to develop a robust brand strategy to launch our sector as an employer sector brand. Dianne Lucas has been a driving force behind the programme as an integral part of our team, working to ensure it’s been member informed, via a working group and multiple collaboration touch points over 3 years.
“BMCareers has driven record levels of member satisfaction, with 94% of members reporting positive engagement, the highest rating in BMF history. Membership of the BMF has also grown to highest levels ever at over 1000 members. The campaign represents more than a promotional effort; it’s a long-term solution to an industry-wide problem. We will continue to develop the programme with our strategic marketing partners, CMDi, and encourage all members to support the campaign and benefit from it.”
The BMF (Builders Merchants Federation) is the trade association that represents and protects the interests of builders’ merchants & suppliers to the building materials sector in the UK and Ireland. Total membership from 1 Sept 2025 stands at 1,010 merchant, supplier and service companies who together have combined sales of circa £52bn and employ nearly 193,000 people in the building materials industry. The BMF’s 521 merchant members, including 74 from Ireland, operate from just over 5,600 branches across the UK and Ireland.