Selco News

We’re delighted to announce that we’re becoming the main partner of Salford Red Devils!

The Super League outfit will carry the name of Selco as its front of shirt sponsor for three years, starting with the 2022 season.

We have a proud history of supporting rugby league and, having opened a new branch in Salford just 12 months ago, it felt like a perfect fit.

And, of course, we’re also a partner of the Rugby League World Cup 2021, which has been postponed until next year.

As part of the agreement, we’ll receive advertising benefits at the AJ Bell Stadium, tickets for its colleagues and customers and player appearances.

Carine Jessamine, marketing director of Selco, said: “We are delighted to have secured a multi-season agreement as the main partner of Salford Red Devils.

“The club is at the heart of the community and we are delighted to be playing a part in helping continue its development on and off the pitch.

“We were proud to open a branch in Salford last year to extend our presence in the North West further and this sponsorship will have numerous benefits for our customers in the area.

“The sport of rugby league has always been an excellent fit for our customer base and we have a long tradition over the last decade of being involved in the sport.

“This is another exciting chapter to run alongside our partnership with the Rugby League World Cup 2021.”

The move enhances our sponsorship portfolio which also includes being a partner of the Professional Darts Corporation.

George Harborne, commercial director of Salford Red Devils, said: “Securing a partnership with a major UK brand such as Selco Builders Warehouse is a significant coup for the club.

“Particularly since Selco opened a branch in Salford, we have watched the expansion plans of the company with real interest and we are delighted to have them on board as our principal partner.

“The planning has already started in developing exciting ideas to bring the partnership to life, particularly for our supporters, so it promises to be a thrilling journey with Selco.”

We’re proud to have added another layer to our sustainability pledge by introducing an enhanced recycling strategy across the business.

We’ve begun a recycling programme from our Lightside Distribution Centre (LDC) based in Oxfordshire.

It means all plastic and cardboard from our 70 UK branches is returned to the LDC where we, in conjunction with our warehouse and distribution services partner Unipart, ensure all waste is recycled.

Craig Ducker, head of operational projects at Selco, said: “Developing and enhancing sustainable operations is a huge priority within Selco and we are moving at rapid speed on a host of projects.

“One of those is recycling and we are delighted to fully launch our LDC programme.

“It means whenever a branch receives a delivery, which is multiple times a week, it can send back all its waste and cardboard to the LDC where it is packaged up for recycling.

“The programme has been launched for two weeks and it is working extremely well. We are very confident it will bring substantial benefits when it comes to reducing our carbon footprint.

"As a fast-growing company, we have a long-term strategy to operate sustainably and reduce our carbon footprint in the communities in which we operate and this is another step on the road towards achieving that.”

Craig revealed proposals are being drawn up to also enhance the in-branch recycling programme with a view to that being introduced in 2022.

In addition to the recycling programme, we have also taken strong measures to reduce our carbon footprint by planting a Selco Forest near Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders – planting more than 100,000 trees to offset the carbon generated by two years of customer deliveries – and increasingly turning to alternative fuel vehicles in its transport fleet, including Compressed Natural Gas vehicles.

More than 20 colleagues from Selco Builders Warehouse have taken on the mammoth Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge – raising more than £12,000 in the process.

Colleagues from across our business braved the daunting challenge which is completed over 24 miles with an ascent of more than 1,500m and over 12 hours.

Our official charity partner Global’s Make Some Noise – which supports small charities helping disadvantaged people and communities across the UK – will be the beneficiaries of the fundraising.

HR Development Manager Simon Ball, who helped arrange the fundraising event, said: “It was a very tough challenge, made all the more difficult by the fact that we took part in the event on a sweltering day.

“There were 22 of us and everyone enjoyed it and got a lot out of the experience. To raise more than £12,000 is a very special feeling and there was a real sense of pride amongst the group.

“The most pleasing parts of the day were to raise a great amount of money for such a worthwhile charity as Global’s Make Some Noise and to see colleagues from all over the business take part.

“It was a very inclusive event with people from different stores and different job roles coming together, which was fantastic to see.”

The challenge saw our group take on the peaks of Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough, which are all part of the Pennine range and circle the head of the valley of the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

We are delighted to confirm our plans to open two new branches in the last three months of 2021.

We will open in Canning Town next month and Rochester in December.

The new branches will create more than 60 jobs in the local areas and means we will have opened three new branches in 2021 - despite the coronavirus crisis - with the ribbon being cut on Liverpool back in April.

Howard Luft, chief executive, said: “London and the South East have become real heartlands for Selco in recent years so we are delighted to be strengthening our presence further in those areas.

“The coronavirus crisis has been an extremely challenging period for the entire country and it’s been no different for us at Selco, but we are determined and excited to keep moving the business forward.

“Selco has undergone a major branch expansion over the last decade and we are committed to continuing to support tradespeople across the UK by providing unrivalled availability, with the widest range of products in stock, as well as excellent customer service and trade pricing.”

For each of the new branches, we will also be donating £3,000 to local charities and community groups through our Selco Stars initiative.

All the fun of the darts will come to our branches next week when we stage a special charity challenge.

As official partners of the Professional Darts Corporation, we will be giving our customers and colleagues at all 70 branches the chance to shine on the oche in a special darts charity week.

For an entry fee of £2 – which will all be donated to our nominated charity Global’s Make Some Noise – people will get the chance to record their highest possible score with six darts.

Prizes range from Selco darts shirts and boards, while the highest score in each branch will be entered into a special prize draw for the chance to win one of six pairs of tickets for the World Championship at Alexandra Palace in London in December.

The competition will run from September 13 to 19.

Carine Jessamine, marketing director, said: “Our partnership with the PDC has really captured the imagination of our customers and colleagues over the last couple of years.

“Our in-branch activity has been restricted over the last 18 months due to the pandemic, but we are excited to run this charity week which we are sure will generate plenty of interest, competitiveness and banter amongst customers and colleagues.

“Most importantly, it’s the chance for us to play our part in raising money for Global’s Make Some Noise which does fantastic work with some of the most vulnerable sections of society across the UK.

“We are looking forward to an excellent week of fundraising and darts action in our branches.”

Global’s Make Some Noise supports small and local charities working to address the greatest needs of communities across the UK.

We are launching our very own ‘Driver Academy’ to help address the nationwide shortage of qualified HGV drivers.

We’re aiming to create dozens of newly-qualified HGV drivers by giving colleagues from any areas of the business the chance to change the direction of their career by applying to complete a Level 2 HGV Apprenticeship.

Successful applicants completing the apprenticeship would become a fully qualified HGV driver – with a Category C Licence – by May 2022.

We have also increased our hourly rate to HGV drivers to £14 from September 1, with an enhanced rate of £16 to be paid in London and the rest of the south of the UK.

Marc Lucock, HR director, said: “The current HGV driver shortage across the whole of the UK is being very well documented and there are a host of reasons for that, including Brexit and Covid.

“No industry or business is immune from the shortage and at Selco we currently have more than 20 vacancies to fill and that number is rising.

“We wanted to be proactive, not only to fill our vacancies but also play a very small part in helping to address the national shortage, and that’s why we have established the Driver Academy.

“We have carried out a similar initiative previously which worked well and, given that demand for HGV drivers is far outweighing supply, we are expecting huge interest.

“This is the opportunity for people working in, for example, our branches who may not feel well suited to a management role to move into a different area of the business and gain the qualifications to set them on the road to an excellent career.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for both Selco and our colleagues and we look forward to creating the next generation of HGV drivers.”

The apprenticeships include HIAB lorry loader crane training while we are also running a programme offering the chance for our current commercial van drivers to upgrade to become HGV qualified.

Applications from colleagues are being invited this month with assessment days and formal classroom tuition sessions to begin in October for those who are successful.

We have further enhanced our customer service by adding a new method of purchase to our offering.

We’re delighted to introduce a ‘Dial and Deliver’ service to help ensure our valued customers are able to place an order for products and materials as quickly and effectively as possible.

The new dial and deliver service will provide additional support to branches during busy times.

Trevor Gibson-Ford, head of sales development at Selco, said: “We’re constantly looking at ways to improve our service to customers as much as possible and Dial and Deliver provides another option for them to make purchases.

“The new Dial and Deliver service will act as a support system for our 70 branches when they’re inundated with calls to ensure we are continuing to help customers get on with their jobs as quickly and effectively as we can.

“Customers can ring through to their local branch as normal. After a few rings, they will hear an automated message asking them if they would like to place an order. They will then be put through to a centralised team who can take the order on behalf of the branch.”

The Dial and Deliver service is currently being trialled in five branches across the West Midlands, with the aim of rolling it out to London branches in September and across the whole network in due course.

Trevor added: “We’ve already seen an improvement in the customer experience when we’ve received calls to our Birmingham branches and, in the first week of the trial, we took dozens of orders through Dial and Deliver.

“The most important thing for us is to be adaptable to different shopping methods and, although many people still enjoy coming into branch to buy their products, others are looking to get products and materials delivered directly to them. We need to support our branches and customers through this extension to the branch telephone order service.”

In recent years, we’ve introduced Click & Collect and Click & Deliver services to enable customers to place online orders.

A Poole-based veterans’ charity will be able to help more people rebuild their lives once they’ve left the Armed Forces after scooping the £5,000 top prize in our Selco Stars contest.

Helping Homeless Veterans UK beat off stiff competition from 11 other finalists to win a public vote and be crowned champion in the 2021 Selco Stars competition.

We organised the competition to support charities and community groups.

Twelve good causes, including Helping Homeless Veterans UK, shared £6,000 worth of building materials prior to the grand finale public vote.

Helping Homeless Veterans UK, headquartered on Allens Lane, eventually won with more than 2,800 votes – a 28 per cent share.

Thrilled CEO David Wood said the money would be used to fund The Veterans Build Project to provide temporary accommodation for any veteran before more permanent arrangements can be found.

He said: “It’s been tremendous to be involved with Selco Stars and amazing to be crowned champions.

“We are a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to helping veterans once they have left service.

“Far too many veterans find themselves homeless or sofa surfing and we work with them to find suitable accommodation.

"We get in touch with the local authority and help with the legislation to get them into a home, before offering follow-up support to reintegrate them into society.

“The Veterans Build Project is a crucial and exciting part of our strategy and we have already secured more than £70,000 of funding to make it a reality.

“Since forming in 2019 we have already provided homes for 154 veterans – and we are committed to helping many more.”

Meanwhile, Wilson Stuart School in Birmingham, which caters for children with additional needs including physical needs, learning and communication difficulties or complex medical conditions, finished second in the Selco Stars competition.

The school won £1,250 as part of Selco’s 125th anniversary. The money will be used to help develop a woodland area within the school grounds.

Carine Jessamine, marketing director at Selco, said: “The Selco Stars campaign has been hugely successful with hundreds of applications and more than 10,000 votes.

“We had some amazing finalists, all of which do incredible work in their communities. A huge congratulations to Helping Homeless Veterans UK for mobilising its support base so successfully to secure such a large percentage of the vote.

“The charity is doing invaluable work to help our often-forgotten heroes. I’m really proud that Selco is involved with such a life-changing project.”

Here at Selco Builders Warehouse, we staged a charity double header to raise more than £13,500 in the space of 48 hours.

Firstly, we hosted our annual golf day, pitting Selco colleagues against suppliers at West Midlands Golf Club.

Just two days later, members of our marketing team put their best foot forward by participating in the Cotswold Way Challenge.

Combined, the events raised £13,700 for our nominated charity, Global’s Make Some Noise, an organisation which improves the lives of disadvantaged people by supporting small charities across the UK.

Carine Jessamine, marketing director of Selco, said: “Due to the restrictions of the last 16 months, our normally busy programme of charity events has been heavily restricted and we have had to take what opportunities we could in terms of fundraising.

“It was brilliant to get back to something approaching normality with the two charity events held in quick succession.

“Global’s Make Some Noise has done outstanding work both before and during the pandemic, supporting those in our communities who are most vulnerable, and it’s fantastic to play our part in supporting their fundraising efforts during what has been an incredibly difficult period for charities.”

A keenly contested golf day saw the suppliers edge out the Selco team in a fourball betterball stableford format, raising £12,000.

The Cotswolds Way Challenge saw around a dozen members of Selco’s marketing team complete the undulating 24km course with an elevation of 630km, with £1,700 raised.

Every vote counts – that’s the message from a dozen charities and community groups from across the UK as they battle to become the winning Selco Star of 2021.

Our flagship Selco Stars community campaign reaches its conclusion this month with the 12 finalists facing a public vote to land the £5,000 first prize.

We received hundreds of entries from groups which benefit the community and our panel of judges selected 12 winners over six months, each receiving an initial £500 worth of building materials.

Now the finalists are hoping to come out on top in a public vote, with the winner at the end of the month claiming the top prize of £5,000. A bonus prize of £1,250 is up for grabs for the organisation which finishes second to mark Selco’s 125th anniversary.

To find out more about the finalists and to cast your vote, please visit our Selco Stars page.

Each individual is allowed to register one vote per day throughout July.

The list of finalists covers many sectors of society, from care homes to youth organisations and homeless charities to a ladies football team.

As has been well-documented, the coronavirus pandemic has heavily affected community groups and charities over the last 12 months so please take a minute to view the excellent work our finalists do and cast a vote for your favourite.

Good luck to all the finalists.