Peter Buttle Wins BMN Lifetime Achievement Award 2017

Peter Buttle, Chairman of Buttle plc, was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2017 Builders’ Merchants News Awards. H+H is proud to sponsor this category and attended the lunch to present Peter with the award. 

In deciding the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, the expert panel of judges looked for evidence of someone who has the made the greatest contribution to their business and to the wider merchant industry. After sifting through all the nominations, it was Peter who came out top.

Buttle plc was founded in 1919 by Peter’s grandfather, George Buttle, who rented a railway arch in Kentish Town and set up as a timber merchant. Current chairman Peter Buttle joined his father and two brothers in the family business 56 years ago and has enjoyed working at all levels of the business since then. Under Peter’s leadership, Buttle’s diversified to supply a full range of materials to the building and plumbing industry.

The company now employs around 70 staff and was featured in the Financial Times’ FT 1000 in April 2017 as one of the 1000 companies in Europe which has achieved the highest percentage growth in revenues between 2012 and 2015.

Peter said that he has enjoyed working at the top levels of the building industry as an elected member of the Builders’ Merchants Federation Council. The biggest challenge he has faced to date has been the 2008-2013 recession which he says tested the industry to his limits.

Peter said: ‘I’ve tried to put in as much as I’ve took out, hopefully more’ and thanked those who had voted for him to receive the award.

Now in its 16th year, the BMN awards celebrate excellence throughout the merchant sector. H+H is pleased to support initiatives that recognise excellence in the merchant sector and has been a sponsor of the BMN awards for over a decade. This year’s event, which had more entries than ever before, was held at the Hilton Park Lane Hotel in London on Friday 24 November.