Wakefield and District Housing (WDH) has announced that Wolseley UK, the country's largest distributor of construction products and materials, has been selected to supply it with all construction and maintenance materials – a deal worth approximately £6 million per year for up to five years.

Wolseley will supply all materials from two bespoke stores located strategically in the district. These will operate like conventional builders’ merchants but with WDH as the sole client, ensuring that its employees can always get the materials they need. WDH will also benefit from consolidated invoicing, the availability of hand held technology (PDAs) for its employees to record their orders and Wolseley will manage and audit the stock on the operatives vans.

WDH was created in 2005, when it became the largest single stock transfer organisation with responsibility for 31,500 homes. Wolseley has now been recruited to supply all its materials required for repairs and maintenance, including heavy materials, timber and plumbing supplies. This will support WDH’s maintenance and refurbishment teams as they ensure all its properties meet the Wakefield Standard, exceeding the Government's Decent Homes Standard.

This approach delivers significant advantages to WDH, including the rationalisation of existing stores with the invoicing and ordering process to be streamlined leading to significant efficiency gains. Wolseley will introduce higher quality products based on whole life cycle costings through its established supply chain but the company will also embrace local suppliers, where existing relationships exist, to ensure that the local economy also benefits. WDH will also be guided by Wolseley in how to achieve the latest guidelines on sustainability through a wide range of energy efficient products and renewable technologies.