2024 Octabuild Awards Brochure

OCTABUILD PRESENTS THE 2024 ALL-ISLAND AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN THE BUILDERS MERCHANT TRADE INFORMATION PACK

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OCTABUILD

Octabuild is a unique organisation established in 1984 with the objective to promote the benefits of high quality, Irish manufactured products for the building, construction and DIY sectors. Between them the Octabuild companies make a considerable contribution to industry, training, and contributing substantially to the economic well-being of their local communities. Their combined product portfolio represents an impressive range of high quality, Irish manufactured brands and each Octabuild company is committed to excellence in providing an efficient and reliable service to builders merchants. Partnership and consultation have always been a feature of Octabuild’s relationship with the trade and this is reflected significantly in the current structure of the awards. New Approach, Same Values Following ongoing discussion with builders merchants, the award categories have been finetuned to reflect the business that today’s builders merchants conduct. They also align with the core values of Octabuild and continue to promote and honour best practice and excellence in Irish builders merchants.

Declan Conlon, Chairperson, Octabuild

OCTABUILD CORE VALUES

EXCELLENCE

INNOVATION

IRISH

COMMUNICATION

SUSTAINABILITY

ICON

PARTNERSHIP

LEADERSHIP

DIVERSITY

P

IRISH MANUFACTURING EXCELLENCE

BUILDERS MERCHANT EXCELLENCE AWARDS / 3

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN 2024?

ALL-ISLAND The Octabuild Builders Merchant Awards, competition to recognise excellence in the builders merchant trade is once again on an

2024 KEY DATES

all-island stage. FREE DRAW

1 ST MAY ENTRIES OPEN

Every store that enters the awards will automatically qualify for free entry into a draw for a chance to win €4,000 for the benefit of the store’s employees. YOU CHOOSE As well as the established Regional and Octabuild Awards, merchants have the option to enter up to five individual category awards. RISING STAR AWARD Acknowledging up and coming talent in the industry. ONLINE ENTRY Tell the judges and Octabuild your story first hand, highlighting areas you believe the business excels at, matching the judging criteria for each category. INDUSTRY EXPERTS Well-known industry professionals have been appointed by Octabuild members as the independent judges. DETAILED VISITS & REPORTS Shortlisted merchants will receive a visit from the judges of up to 90 minutes, allowing the judges to spend quality time with the top scoring merchants. A report on how entries were judged will be provided to all shortlisted stores in each category. DATE & VENUE

1 ST JULY CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES

JULY FIRST STAGE JUDGING & SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

AUGUST / SEPTEMBER JUDGES’ VISITS UP TO 90 MINS

The final awards presentation and dinner will take place in Dublin’s prestigious Round Room at the Mansion House on Thursday 17th October.

17 TH OCT AWARDS EVENT ROUND ROOM AT THE MANSION HOUSE DUBLIN

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THE AWARDS

REGIONAL & OCTABUILD AWARDS

CATEGORY AWARDS

RISING STAR AWARD

For 2024, one winner will be selected in each of the following regions:

In addition to the Regional and Octabuild awards, merchants can enter one or more of the following categories which will reward excellence in: • Business Management • Customer Service • Sales & Marketing • Sustainable Business • Community Outreach Those planning to enter a Regional Award (i.e. complete all five sections) will also have their entry judged in each of the individual Category Awards.

To recognise and encourage upcoming talent in the builders merchant industry, merchants can nominate any staff member aged 30 years and under as at 1st July 2024, who has for example:

• Connacht / Donegal / Monaghan / Cavan Award • Leinster Award • Munster Award • Northern Ireland Award To enter into the Regional Awards for Excellence, you must complete each of the five category sections on the entry form. The Octabuild Award for Excellence will be selected from the four Regional winners.

• Performed above expectations • Excelled in service to customers

• Improved support services • Shown themselves to be an excellent team member • The potential to become part of the senior management team.

WHY ENTER?

WAYS TO ENTER

TEAM WORK The awards format provides an opportunity to involve management and staff in preparing submissions and hosting store visits. WHO SHOULD ENTER? Any builders merchant store (either independent or part of a group) that derives at least 50% of its sales from the building/construction industry on the island of Ireland, is encouraged to enter the Awards, particularly those who have never done so previously.

There are many benefits in entering for these awards - it can enthuse and motivate staff; recognise business achievements; offer marketing opportunities and boost customer confidence. LEVEL PLAYING FIELD Every store, irrespective of size, recent investment, independent or part of a group, has an opportunity to enter and will be judged on an equal basis. FREE DRAW There’s a chance for any store that enters to win €4,000 for the benefit of the store’s employees.

ONLINE www.octabuild.ie/awards

EMAIL awards@octabuild.ie

POST Octabuild Awards, Huband House, 16 Upper Mount Street, Dublin 2

BUILDERS MERCHANT EXCELLENCE AWARDS / 5

WHAT THE JUDGES ARE LOOKING FOR

Whether you are entering a Regional Award, any or all of the individual Category Awards, questions will be asked in the following areas:

EXCELLENCE IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT • Systems, processes, procedures that benefit your business (25%) • Vision, Mission and Strategy (25%) • Health & Safety protocols/ initiatives (25%) • Support for Irish manufacturers/Octabuild companies (25%)

EXCELLENCE IN CUSTOMER SERVICE • Staff engagement/knowledge/ training (30%) • Innovation (An innovative action/process introduced in recent years to enhance customer service) (30%) • Customer journey/experience (40%) EXCELLENCE IN SALES & MARKETING • Successful sales/marketing activity that has driven sales (100%)

EXCELLENCE IN SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS • Any unique innovation/ initiative introduced in recent years to benefit environment/ sustainability (100%) EXCELLENCE IN COMMUNITY OUTREACH • Local/Community sponsorship or charitable activities (100%)

HOW TO ENTER

For each individual category award, entrants will be required to answer questions with a maximum of 500 words per category.

There is an option to supply relevant supporting material to enhance your written entry for each category e.g. digital photographs, video links, media coverage obtained, social media activity, promotional

flyers, samples etc, as part of the online entry form, email attachments or by hard copy post. NB : Entrants should refer to the terms & conditions for the awards competition

prior to selecting your preferred category and completing entries.

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JUDGES

LIAM O’GORMAN CHAIR, JUDGES

JOE HARLIN

Liam is a former Chairman of the National Insulation Association of Ireland and former Council Member and Chairman of the Irish Building Materials Federation. He served for over ten years as committee member and two terms as Chairman of Octabuild. Liam has represented Ireland at committee level at EURIMA (European Mineral Wool Manufacturers Association). He was employed for over thirty years at Moy Insulation /Moy Isover (Part of the Global Saint Gobain Group) in Ireland and UK.

Well known in the builders merchant trade, Joe retired from Wavin in 2018 as Business Development Manager after 47 years of service. During that time he spent some years in Saudi Arabia with Wavin Overseas. Outside work Joe was an Inter-County GAA Football Referee and Referee Assessor.

JUDGING PROCESS & VISITS

All entries received for the awards, whether online, email or postal, will be reviewed by the judges against the criteria for the category, and then a shortlist of entrants in each region/category will be selected for visiting. The judges will primarily focus on the written information provided on the entry form. Supporting material will be considered in the judges’ deliberation, but will have no bearing on scores obtained in the first stage.

The judges will conduct visits of up to 90 minutes to each of the shortlisted stores, meeting with the manager (or nominated representative), observing staff interaction with customers and viewing the physical aspects of both the store and the yards. A report on how entries were judged will be provided to all shortlisted stores in each category following the awards presentation.

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TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF ENTRY

1. Entries can be submitted by any builders merchant store that derives at least 50% of its sales from the building/ construction industry on the island of Ireland.

There is no fee for entering these awards.

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3. Entry Forms must be authorised or signed (email/postal entries) by the Manager or senior representative of the store.

4. Closing date for receipt of entries is 5pm on Monday 1st July 2024. 5. A store may enter for one or more of the Category Awards.

6. Stores that wish to enter for a Regional Award (and subsequently qualify for entry into the Octabuild Award for Excellence) must complete all five category sections on the entry form, and in doing so, their entry will also be judged in the individual Category Awards.

7. Stores who are part of a Group may only enter for the Regional Award in the region in which they are located.

8. Those nominated for entry into the Rising Star Award must be aged 30 years or younger on 1st July 2024.

9. Online entries should be submitted through the Octabuild website www.octabuild.ie/awards prior to the closing deadline. NB : Entries will be accepted online via the website, by email and post. An editable version of the entry form can be downloaded from the website, completed offline and sent as an email submission to awards@ octabuild.ie (along with any support material), or printed and sent by post to: Octabuild Builders Merchant Excellence Awards 2024, Huband House, 16 Upper Mount Street, Dublin 2, prior to the deadline for entries. 10. Every store that makes a submission into the 2024 awards will automatically be entered into a free draw for a chance to win €4,000 for the benefit of the store’s employees. One entry into the draw allowed per store. A submission for The Rising Star Award on its own is not included. Announcement of the winner of the draw will be made once the entry deadline for the awards has passed. 11. Entries that exceed the number of words designated for each Category Award or the size and format of any supporting material may not be accepted. 12. The judges will primarily focus on the written information provided on the entry form but supporting material in the form of, for example, sales brochures, photographs of the premises, posters, press cuttings, screen grabs from social media activities, video etc. may also be submitted. 13. From the entry forms received the judges will select a shortlist of entrants in each region/category for visiting. 14. Each shortlisted store will be visited by the judges for up to 90 minutes meeting the manager, observing staff interaction with customers and viewing the physical aspects of both the store and yards. 15. Every effort will be made to ensure that the manager or senior person who signed the entry form for the shortlisted stores will know in advance when the judges will visit their store. However, this cannot be guaranteed as the judges will have a schedule of visits determined by the location of shortlisted stores in each region. 16. If the manager or senior person who signed the entry form is not available when the judges visit, they will seek to speak to your nominated representative on site. 17. Canvassing of judges will result in immediate disqualification from the awards. 18. Completed entry forms and supporting material will be considered confidential and will not be used other than for judging and presentational purposes for the awards. 19. Promotional imagery/company logos may be requested from shortlisted finalists, for use in publicity and the awards presentation visual material. 20. All entries will be acknowledged within 7 days of receipt. 21. Other than a summary report provided after the awards presentation to shortlisted entries, no correspondence will be entered into with any entrants or their representatives. 22. Any questions about the awards should be made in writing to: Administrator, Octabuild Builders Merchant Excellence Awards 2024, Huband House, 16 Upper Mount Street, Dublin 2 or to awards@octabuild.ie 23. By submitting an entry, the Builders Merchant grants Octabuild the right to publicise the entry on its website, in promotional materials, on social media and in the media. 24. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on Thursday 17th October 2024 in the Round Room at The Mansion House in Dublin.

OCTABUILD BUILDERS MERCHANT EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2024

Huband House 16 Upper Mount Street Dublin 2, Ireland

T: +353 (0) 1 661 3515 E: awards@octabuild.ie W: www.octabuild.ie

OCTABUILD MEMBERS