profile
Mathew Whitehouse
Mathew has three decades of experience in the adhesives industry, which has provided him with a wealth of sealing and bonding knowledge. After starting his career in the abrasives division of Saint-Gobain, Mathew joined Bostik working predominantly in the marketing team in both UK & European roles, with responsibility widening more recently to include UK customer services. Since 2017, he has been Bostik’s Marketing Director in the UK. In combination with this experience, Mathew has continued to widen his business knowledge through the completion of an MBA and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Bostik Ltd
Bostik is a leading global adhesive specialist in construction, consumer and industrial markets. For more than a century, it has been developing innovative adhesive solutions that are smarter and more adaptive to the forces that shape daily lives. From construction sites to schools and offices, food packaging to transport, Bostik’s bonding systems are used in countless applications.
With annual sales of €2 billion, Bostik is one of the largest adhesive and sealant companies in the world, employing some 6,000 people in 50 countries across five continents. The company’s market-leading products and brands, such as EVO-STIK, are tried and tested by millions of users throughout the UK and beyond and are designed to meet the highest standards of quality and innovation, with no compromise on performance. Bostik is the adhesive solutions business line of the Arkema group.
Visit: https://www.bostik.com/uk & https://www.evo-stik.co.uk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/EVOSTIKUK
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bostik/
Launched in 2015, the award winning monthly Builders Merchant Building Index (BMBI) report is the only reliable measure of repair, maintenance & improvement (RMI) activity in the UK. Filling an important gap, it can be widely used in construction, and by economists, Government, national media, commentators and influencers outside the industry.
Bostik Comment: Q1 2024
We saw a tentative start to 2024 as the effects of poor weather dampened merchant sales volumes during the first quarter.
House building is still an issue, and it remains to be seen if new Government reforms designed to give more powers for councils to build affordable homes will act as a catalyst for investment in our towns and cities and drive much needed regeneration in communities across the country.
With sales volumes relatively unstable, it pays to offer premium products that help to increase the average transaction value.
These higher value products often come with more sustainability credentials too. Overall, the growing demand for sustainability, coupled with regulatory requirements and market dynamics, has driven builders’ merchants in the UK to expand their offerings to include more sustainable adhesives and sealants. This trend is likely to continue as sustainability becomes increasingly important in the construction industry.
At Bostik, we’re embracing sustainability with the introduction of more bio-based solutions, which contain materials that are wholly or partly derived from living matter, such as plants.
We’re also introducing more sustainable packaging, such as Post Consumer Recycled (PCR) cartridges and buckets. PCR is a great advancement in sustainable packaging as it allows us to give used plastic a second life and have a positive environmental impact. Reclaiming plastics reduces the amount of virgin material used and plastic waste going to landfill, thus putting less of a burden on the planet.
Using PCR also reduces our carbon footprint as manufacturing packaging from post-consumer materials requires less energy and less fossil fuel consumption. Our PCR packaging is manufactured using a minimum of 30 percent recycled plastic for our cartridges. Today, the percentage of recycled plastic can reach 80 percent for some of our products.
We are continuously working with our supply chain partners to look into new ways to increase this percentage, with the ambition to reach 100% packaging with PCR content by 2030.