Experts from the UK’s building materials supply chain gathered at the BMF in Coventry in October for the annual Builders Merchant Building Index (BMBI) debate. The Experts tackled the big issues restricting industry growth and tabled practical solutions to put Britain’s building sector back on a consistent growth path.

Now in its ninth year, the annual Builders Merchant Building Index (BMBI) debate is hosted by the Builders’ Merchants Federation (BMF). The BMBI, a brand of the BMF, is the nation’s most trusted source of data for housing repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) activity. “It’s the best proxy there is for housing RMI, and the definitive report on the building materials supply chain,” says BMF Chief Executive Officer John Newcomb. “That’s why the Department for Business & Trade includes it in its authoritative Monthly Construction Update alongside Bank of England, ONS, CPA and S&P trend data.”

The BMBI debate panel for 2025 comprised nine senior representatives from across the building materials supply chain, including multinationals like Heidelberg Materials, Knauf Insulation and AkzoNobel (Dulux Trade Paints), who provide expert commentary for the BMBI’s reports. They were joined by John Newcomb, the editor of the Builders Merchant News, Tim Wood, who chaired the debate, and Mike Rigby, managing director of MRA Research who run and produce the BMBI reports.

Hot topics including the UK’s capacity gaps and labour shortages in meeting the Government’s 1.5m homes target, how to upgrade the existing housing stock, building safety standards and the lessons learned from the Grenfell tragedy, and the role of technology and digitalisation in a joined-up construction industry.

Speaking of the impact the annual BMBI debates have on national policy and best practice in the builders’ merchant and wider construction sector, John Newcomb said: “Cross industry discussions like the BMBI debate are crucial to support big thinking and concerted action in the sector, and for sharing best practice between building material manufacturers and suppliers, and their merchant customers.

“The debate serves as an important national platform to share the industry’s views with policy makers and regulators at the highest level.”

Mike Rigby adds “the annual BMBI debate emphasises the successes and challenges in the Repair Maintenance & Improvement sector and building in the UK, with an unparalleled ground-view up from the BMBI Experts, acknowledged experts in their markets, backed by a unique combination of comprehensive trend data and knowledgeable explanation. Unlike most other sources of widely used data such as the ONS, which are sample survey based, BMBI reports total sales-out data to builders and trades from over 88% of Britain’s builder’s merchants. With near-total market coverage not grossed up from a small sample of it, BMBI data is as near to being the total market as is possible to get.

“The construction industry contributes around 8% of the UK’s GDP and directly and indirectly it employs about 10% of the working population. With such national significance, debates like this are essential to help the government take the right action to put the country on a sustainable growth path.”

BMBI monthly reports are distributed to companies at all levels in the building materials supply chain, and shared widely across construction via trade media, industry newsletters and social media. Outside of construction, the reports are read by at least seven government departments, and by investors, advisors, analysts and commentators in the national media, and institutions such as banks, pension funds, accountants, consultants, economists, and investment bodies. BMBI reports are read and its debates watched by global audiences, including people in the US Senate, Goldman Sachs, private equity, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Watch the debate here https://bmbi.co.uk/debates/round-table-debate-2025/.