Building More for less: Saint-Gobain Building Distribution UK & Ireland announces discount scheme for hospices

The partnership between 'together', a charity programme involving all Saint-Gobain Building Distribution (SGBD) UK & Ireland companies, and the hospice movement's national charity Help the Hospices, is continuing to grow with the launch of a new scheme offering discounts on building materials to the group's hospice partners. This will also be extended to cover contractors and subcontractors undertaking renovation, maintenance and building work at hospices throughout the UK.

All trades people contracted to carry out work on behalf of individual hospices, as well as hospice volunteers and employees, will have access to special 'hospice' discounts on the 400,000 products available through the Saint-Gobain Building Distribution network in the UK, which includes Jewson and Graham. The decision to implement this scheme supports the SGBD's overall objective of helping hospices by providing value through direct access to a breadth of products and services required for the renovation, building or maintenance of hospices, in addition to raising funds for local hospices.

Paul Edwards, Jewson's Director of Sales for Branches and Regional Sales Centres, has been involved in developing the scheme and says: "The sheer scale of our network enables local hospices to benefit on a number of levels. Not only can the 11,000 members of staff throughout our UK branch network continue to raise money for their local hospices through a series of fundraising events and activities, but they can use their expertise to support the renovation, maintenance and extension of hospice buildings. The discount scheme represents another element of the partnership, which will result in a reduction in building material costs and allow the savings to be invested into frontline care."

Maxine Trotter, director of fundraising at Help the Hospices, adds: "We're delighted to be partners in the together programme. This is a great opportunity for local hospices to obtain discounts on any building materials that they may need, allowing them to use their funds where they're most needed, on patient care. We believe that the knowledge and expertise of SGBD's employees can really help to shape and make a difference to local hospices through this scheme."

SGBD's partnership with Help the Hospices launched across the UK and Ireland in July 2009 and has seen 168 local hospices partner with over 750 Jewson and Graham branches nationwide. The partnership has already got off to a great start with employees raising money through a variety of means such as dressing in yellow, the colour of the hospice movement's sunflower emblem, to dozens of raffles and even sitting in baths of custard.

Set up by SGBD in 2002, the together initiative has already raised £1.6 million for worthwhile causes including the British Heart Foundation, Great Ormond Street and Cancer Research UK. The together partnership is made up of several leading names including Jewson, the UK's leading supplier of timber and building materials, Graham, Minster, Ashworth and Frazer.

For more information on Saint-Gobain, Jewson or Graham, please visit www.saint-gobain.co.uk, www.jewson.co.uk and www.graham-group.co.uk respectively.

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Editorial Contacts
For further press information, please contact Stuart Pearson at Phoenix plc on 01372 370 877 or email stuartgp@phoenixplc.com.
For information about Help the Hospices or hospice care please contact Jo Pratt at Help the Hospices on 020 8699 6566 or j.pratt@helpthehospices.org.uk