CORONAVIRUS

Updated 12:00 05/01/2021

Hale & Co to remain open during Latest National Restrictions...

Following the Prime Minister's briefing given yesterday evening (4 January 2021) the Builders Merchants Federation (BMF) has once again sought clarification on where Construction and Manufacturing fits into the new lockdown plan from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Subsequent communication from the BMF and the National Federation of Builders (NFB) has again confirmed the categorisation of Builders’ Merchants as essential retailers.

We therefore confirm that we will be remaining open to continue to support our very valued customers in these continued very difficult and unprecedented times.

As ever, the safety of our Staff and Customers remains our top priority and we ask that all Customers continue to abide by the safety measures that we have put in place – including the wearing of face coverings, the use of the hand sanitiser that we have provided at all points of entry and the adherence to our one way systems, perspex screens and 2m social distancing floor markers.

Non-Trade Customers are strongly encouraged to make use of our well established ‘call’ or ‘email and collect services’ for essential items and our extra rapid response vans have once again been put on standby to provide increased non-contact home deliveries. Call us on 01594 545300 or email us at sales@haleco.co.uk to discuss your requirements and we will do all we can to support you, your families and your colleagues in maintaining your homes and businesses in a safe and efficient manner during this latest period of uncertainty.

Thank you.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Updated 21:00 03/11/2020

Hale & Co to remain open during New National Restrictions from 5 November...

During the Prime Minister’s announcement on Saturday 31st October concerning a further lockdown in England from Thursday 5th November, he stated that the nationally critical construction and manufacturing sectors should remain open whilst continuing to observe COVID-security guidelines.

Subsequent communication from the Construction Leadership Council, Builders Merchants Federation and National Federation of Builders has confirmed the categorisation of Builders’ Merchants as essential retailers.

We therefore confirm that we will be remaining open to continue to support our very valued customers in these continued very difficult and unprecedented times.
The safety of our Staff and Customers remains our top priority and we ask that all Customers continue to abide by the safety measures that we have put in place – including the wearing of face coverings, the use of the hand sanitiser that we have provided at all points of entry and the adherence to our one way systems, perspex screens and 2m social distancing floor markers.

Thank you.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Updated 07:30 06/07/2020

Hale & Co - OPEN for collections (via controlled access) & home and trade deliveries

Our top priority remains the health and safety of our colleagues and the community that we work in.

In response to the opening of non-essential shops and services over the weekend, we have now dispensed with the requirement for strict pre-arranged collections and are now operating a controlled entry process (no pre-booking required) allowing improved speed of service - whilst still maintaining the vitally important social distancing guidelines. Upon arrival at our main gates, you will be met by a team member who will ask you which departments you need visit and, if customer numbers on site permit, you will be allowed on to site. If the distribution of customers already on site when you arrive means that social distancing is likely to be infringed, you will be politely asked to remain in your vehicle in the holding area outside our main gates until sufficient customers have left the site. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding in this matter,

Our extra tele-sales and driver resources remain – meaning that we are able, where safe and sensible to do so, to provide a fuller service to our very valued trade and retail customers.

Note, particularly, that there is currently no minimum order value for home deliveries and extra light van resource – providing a same or next day service – has been put in place to compensate for retail customers not being able to visit our site.

Please use our main number 01594 545300 to request deliveries (trade & home).

When delivering goods, our Drivers will either contact you by phone or will knock on your door and then step aside to a safe distance. Once contact has been made, goods will be left as close to where you require them as possible and, where safe and practical to do so, and without infringing the Government guidelines of personal distancing (2 metres). Once unloaded, our Drivers will take your name and will sign the Delivery Ticket on your behalf. Additionally, for security reasons, our Drivers will take photos of the delivered goods on site wherever possible.

Please DO NOT attend our site unless you are free from symptoms and/or are not in a high risk group.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Updated 07:30 29/04/2020

Updated 07:30 27/04/2020

Hale & Co - Back OPEN for timed trade collections & home and trade deliveries

Our top priority remains the health and safety of our colleagues and the community that we work in.

Our decision making has also continued to take account of other important needs including supporting the nationwide response to the Covid-19 crisis, protecting livelihoods and supporting customers.

Throughout the lockdown, the UK Government has endorsed the need to keep construction and the supply chain that supports it going – provided this can be done safely. Over the last four weeks, since our temporary shut-down, we’ve seen a significant shift in the wants and needs of our customers –many of them contacting us, asking that we support them in allowing them to continue to build.

Therefore, in line with other national and independent Builders’ Merchants and advice from the Builders Merchants Federation, we are now back open for timed trade collections & home and trade deliveries (in strict accordance with government guidelines and social distancing practices).

We are hugely grateful to our wonderful band of volunteer staff who have kept our essential and emergency service provision going in recent weeks.

They have now been re-joined by extra tele-sales and driver resources – meaning that we are once again, where safe and sensible to do so, able to provide a fuller service to our very valued trade and retail customers.

Please use our main number 01594 545300 to request deliveries (trade & home) or to arrange an individual collection (trade only) from our site. Note that only one customer will be allowed on site at any one time –allowing our staff to easily maintain 2 metres of personal distance from each other and you.

For collections, please be aware that, when you telephone us to arrange this, our salesperson will take your order and then provide you with a collection time and customer order number. This will enable the products to be pre-picked – thereby minimising the time that you are on our site for the protection of everyone concerned and to arrange a loading configuration which ensures scrupulous adherence to the 2 metre social distancing guidelines. Please also be aware that, for non-credit account collections, payment can only be made in person on site by ‘chip and pin’ card payment. No cash payments will be accepted for hygiene reasons and card machines will be thoroughly disinfected after each use. Apart from payment, you will be requested to remain in your vehicle cab whilst loading is taking place.

Please DO NOT attend our site unless you have a pre-booked collection slot and are free from symptoms and/or are not in a high risk group. For everyone’s safety, entry will NOT be permitted without a prior appointment.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Emergency Supply List Revised 11:00 01/04/2020

Updated 23:00 29/03/2020

Covid-19 Update: Temporarily CLOSED to all new business (except emergencies)

Due to the rapidly developing Coronavirus Crisis, Hale & Co. (Drybrook) Ltd is now temporarily CLOSED to all new orders (collected or delivered) until further notice – apart from emergency provision as outlined below.

As of 5pm on Monday 30th March 2020 (once pre-booked collections for that day are complete), our site will be fully closed to customers with only a skeleton staff in place.

Over the last week or so, our wonderful dedicated team here at Hale & Co have been helping us to operate an essentials only service, with our site open, using restrictive processes, to assist those who need it most. However, it has become increasingly clear to us that we now need to make further changes so that our operation focuses solely on supporting emergency situations only.

Although the Government has now provided information and support for the self-employed sector including hundreds of tradespeople and construction workers whom we have been working hard to support until now, we fully acknowledge that this may make things very difficult for our customers.

We want to reassure you that our commitment to you, our customers, is as strong as ever. But, we hope that you understand that our priorities during this period must be the safety of the people who work for us as well as those in our local communities (including our customers) and, fundamentally, the reduction of the potential impact on the Health Service during these very challenging times.

Please be reassured that, when the time is right and we can return to work, the Hale & Co Team will be doing all we can to return our service to normal as quickly as possible.

Note that we will endeavour to complete the delivery of outstanding orders already in our system using a small team of volunteers. Delays, however, may unfortunately be inevitable due to our restricted operation. We will, of course, contact any customer who may be affected as soon as humanly possible.

It goes without saying that these deliveries will continue to observe strict Social Distancing and will be contingent on our customers’ support in upholding these guidelines. The health of our colleagues, customers and the public is our top priority and we are committed to playing our part in preventing the spread of the Coronavirus.

As already stated, once these existing orders are complete, we will ONLY be delivering Materials and Hire Machinery/Tools in emergency circumstances for Essential Infrastructure and Services.

Based on government guidance, we have outlined examples of the sorts of essential services we will support in the following list:

Hospitals, Care & Nursing Homes, Doctors’ Surgeries
Schools
Prisons
Central & Local Government Offices – which are open for critical services
Emergency Services Facilities e.g. Police, Ambulance & Fire Stations
Military Facilities
Certain Retail Premises: e.g. Supermarkets and other Food Shops, Health Shops, Pharmacies
Hotels, Hostels and Bed & Breakfasts
Food Banks and Homeless Services
Crematoria and Cemeteries
Social Housing
Emergency Residential (inc. Gas Cylinder Supply for Cooking and/or Heating)
Farms
Utilities
Transport Infrastructure

We repeat that, we will be strictly observing Social Distancing for these Emergency Deliveries and they will be contingent on our customers’ support in upholding these guidelines. The health of our colleagues, customers and the public is our top priority and we are committed to playing our part in preventing the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

If you have a situation that fulfils the above criteria, please call us on 01594 545300 or email us at sales@haleco.co.uk.

We will continue to update our website and social media channels as the situation develops.

We sincerely hope that the restrictions put in place for the whole of the UK will be short lived, but we all have our part to play in safeguarding all of our futures.

Finally, we would once again like to thank our incredible staff and loyal customers who have shown support during this difficult time, whilst helping us work within the Government guidelines. We sincerely hope that you, your colleagues and families stay safe and well throughout the challenges ahead.

Leslie, Jake, Jane & Sam Hale.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Updated 19:30 24/03/2020

Thank you for all your loyalty and support, even during these uncertain times. Our thoughts go out to all of you who have been affected by this unprecedented situation.

As a business authorised in the government exceptions list, we have been allowing tradespeople onto our site today to collect materials for essential works. However, upon monitoring the fast moving situation today and obtaining industry advice where available, we have now decided to take further steps and move our operation to deliveries (including those already booked) and pre-booked collections ONLY as of 07.30 tomorrow, Wednesday 25th March 2020.

These activities have been authorised as acceptable today, 24/03/2020, by the Government Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy via the Builders Merchants Federation. However, these services will only be available to tradespeople carrying out essential work.

Whilst doing all we could to protect everyone by maintaining social distancing, we have kept our site open as long as possible to support all our wonderful self-employed tradespeople here in the Forest of Dean. Rest assured we will continue to try to support you in your vital work from a distance, but we now believe that the time is right to cease face to face contact on our site – however carefully managed – to maximise personal protection for you and us.

Extra telephone answering capacity is being organised overnight to minimise waiting time and to speed up the ordering process.

Please use our main number 01594 545300 to request deliveries or to arrange an individual collection from our site. Note that only one customer will be allowed on site at any one time –allowing our staff to easily maintain 2 metres of personal distance from each other and you.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

____________________________________________________________________________________________ Updated 09:15 24/03/2020

Confirmation that we are currently open to tradespeople carrying out essential works*. Because members of the public have been told to stop all non essential shopping, we hope that you will all understand that we are not allowing any retail customers onto site unless they are purchasing items for strictly emergency repairs only - please be prepared for the staff members at our entrances to query the reason for your visit.

Deliveries, where the utmost care would be taken to ensure social distancing, can be arranged by calling us on 01594 545300.

May we reassure you all, that the situation is being constantly monitored and that we are in constant contact with our trade associations and professional bodies (who are in turn, we understand, meeting with government this morning) regarding our current trading status and will respond quickly and accordingly should the position change.

We echo the government's message: STAY AT HOME unless it is absolutely necessary!

*We are trading as an excepted 'home and hardware shops' business as defined in the government guidance document here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/874732/230320_-_Revised_guidance_note_-_finalVF.pdf

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Updated 05:30 24/03/2020

Having now seen the government document detailing further businesses and premises to close, we now believe we will be able to stay open (with very careful safeguards in place) as a ‘home and hardware shop’. This will be fully confirmed shortly.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Updated 21:30 23/03/2020

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement this evening, it seems clear that retail customers will unfortunately not be allowed onto our site as of tomorrow. However, we currently believe that we will still be able to operate a full delivery service for telephone orders and, based on the limited information available on the gov.uk website so far, we think that tradespeople - particularly those carrying out essential repairs - will still be allowed onto our premises.

We will seek full clarification on this and provide an update as soon as possible.

Thank you.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Updated 13:00 23/03/2020

Hale & Co - Open and here for You!

Dear Customers,

At Hale & Co, we are actively monitoring the rapidly developing Coronavirus situation.

In our over 100 years of operation this is a unique and unprecedented challenge. However, we are completely committed to doing everything we possibly can to protect both the physical health of our customers and staff and the financial health of our customers’ businesses, our business, and the local economy.

We have a comprehensive and robust business continuity plan which we are now in the process of implementing in order to ensure that we can continue to safely provide our services for as long as possible, subject to instruction from the government. This said, if you are concerned about coming onto our site, call us and we will arrange for deliveries as required.

Please be aware that, due to increased demand, lead-times for crane offload deliveries are currently slightly longer than normal. However, in view of this, we have already arranged extra capacity for van deliveries up to 1100kgs – including 1 tonne loose aggregate tip-offs and 500kg tail lift capabilities. These light-vehicle deliveries are available now with considerably shorter lead times.

In order to protect both our people and customers as much as possible, we have brought in comprehensive and regular cleaning and sanitising regimes both here on site and amongst our drivers.

Additionally, we are minimising contact during collection & delivery as follows…

When collecting goods, we have deployed barriers at our counters to help keep to Government guidelines of personal distancing (2 metres). We respectfully ask that our customers adhere to these distancing measures as much as they possibly can in order to protect all concerned. We particularly ask that only one customer per transaction approaches our counters or sales areas at any one time and that any children (who may be with you due to school closures) remain in your vehicle for reasons of Health & Safety. When booking out goods, our Counter Staff will ask your name and then sign your paperwork on your behalf.

When delivering goods, our Drivers will either contact you by phone or will knock on your door and then step aside to a safe distance. Once contact has been made, goods will be left as close to where you require them as possible and, where safe and practical to do so, and without infringing the Government guidelines of personal distancing (2 metres). Once unloaded, our Drivers will take your name and will sign the Delivery Ticket on your behalf. Additionally, for security reasons, our Drivers will take photos of the delivered goods on site wherever possible.

We are here for you and will continue providing the best possible service for you by fulfilling your orders for collection and delivery – whilst still protecting your health and the health of our staff.

Once again, we will continue to follow closely government advice and guidance about the current situation. We are monitoring events and we are working hard to mitigate disruption.

Please check our website regularly as we endeavour to keep abreast of these fast-changing circumstances.

Thank you for your continuing support.