Krystal Williams of Pavestone, Shanker Patel of the Lords Group of Companies and Edwin de Silva of Travis Perkins will lead an 'Industry Forum' on the issues affecting the industry and will answer questions from the audience.

With the theme “Building the Next Generation”, the BMF Young Merchant Conference will be taking place at the NEC, Birmingham on 6 October 2021. The event is being held in connection with UK Construction Week and will include a visit to the Build Show on site. 

As Managing Director of Pavestone’s landscaping division, Williams will provide the suppliers’ view.  She has worked with leading brands of aggregates, stone and concrete paving since 2003.  She joined Pavestone in 2017 and was promoted to her current position in 2019, since when her commercial acumen, vision of the future and strategic thinking has helped drive Pavestone’s growth and market leading position in a fast-paced sector.

Shanker Patel joined his family-owned retail business in the 1990s after initially training as a lawyer.  Appointed as Managing Director in 1999 and as Chief Executive in 2009, Patel has been instrumental in transforming the business and growing turnover to over £300m.  Today the Lords Group is a highly diversified business involved in the retail, distribution and manufacturing of construction materials and employing over 650 people. Its principal UK trading arms are Lords Business Merchants, Hevey Building Supplies Limited and APP Wholesale Limited.

Edwin de Silva has been involved in the building industry for over 40 years since starting an apprenticeship with British Gas, where he worked across most functions, but notably sales and marketing.  He subsequently honed his skills with a world-leading building materials manufacturer and a major housebuilder before being recruited by Travis Perkins into a newly created Business Development Director role to grow their market share with regional and bespoke builders, where he has been developing their understanding while supporting their strategic plans for the past 7 years. 

In addition to a full day’s business programme, the BMF Young Merchants Conference features an evening social event at the Park Regis Hotel. Registration is now open.