Sandwell Business Ambassadors invite you to a ‘meet the buyers’ breakfast

Update on Monday 16 March:
We are postponing this event amid concerns around COVID-19 coronavirus. We will update you as soon as we have a new date. 

Sandwell Business Ambassadors invite West Midlands businesses to a networking breakfast where you can meet buyers and tier-one suppliers to the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital (MMUH).

We are hosting the event alongside Sandwell Council’s Think Sandwell team on Thursday 9 April, with partners Balfour Beatty (principal contractor to the hospital build), Birmingham City Council and Sandwell & West Birmingham NHS Trust.

Manufacturers, suppliers and specialist subcontractors are welcome to come along and showcase their expertise and innovations to this prestigious group of buyers.

The early morning meeting will feature project presentations on the £267m hospital, exhibition stands, and valuable networking opportunities – including specially matched one-to-one sessions.

The idea of the event is to allow prospective suppliers to forge links with representatives from Balfour Beatty and its tier-one contractors – the people making buying decisions about the internal fit-out of the hospital being built in Smethwick. The event supports Sandwell Council’s aim to ensure that regeneration projects in the borough benefit as many local businesses as possible (and, in turn, boost jobs, skills, people and communities).

Unsurprisingly, the supplies needed for a project of this scale are vast. Buyers will need to source steel bracing systems, secondary steelworks, passenger lifts, automated guided vehicles, fabrications, pipework services, lighting, commercial kitchens, catering equipment, mechanical and electrical services, clinical waste services, reception desks, wayfinding signage, handrails, balustrades, sprinkler systems, pipework, ductwork, roller shutters, sanitaryware, and much more.

Alan Taylor, chair of Sandwell Business Ambassadors, said for local firms this was an opportunity not to be missed.

“The breakfast session aims to open the doors to the MMUH project to our region’s suppliers: give them insight about what is needed for the hospital and allow them to make early introductions with key buyers.

“It’s also an opportunity for them to showcase our region’s diverse, world-class supply credentials.”

The breakfast, to be held in Sandwell Council’s chamber rooms, will include a Buyers’ Lounge, where potential suppliers can have ten-minute, face-to-face meetings with matched buyers.

A list of buyers set to attend the event will be released soon. Each buyer will provide a personal profile detailing the types of contracts and services they are charged with awarding. In advance of the breakfast meeting, Think Sandwell will match buyers with suitable suppliers – ensuring the one-to-one sessions are as productive and successful as possible.

* * * POSTPONED * * * The event will run from 6.45am to 9.30am on Thursday 9 April 2020 in the chamber rooms of Sandwell Council House in Oldbury. It’s free to attend and includes a complimentary cooked breakfast. Do book your place early by following this link. 

If you wish to be considered for a one-to-one session with a buyer, please first book your place and then send an email to think_sandwell@sandwell.gov.uk with the subject line ‘Meet the buyer’ and a brief overview of your business, including the sectors to which you currently supply (or aspire to supply).

[Image courtesy of Sandwell Council.]