Epicor has become one of the first external shareholders in Building Materials Digital Services, the industry‑owned venture developing the Data Yard — a centralised Industry Data Pool.
BMDS was established by the BMF and NMBS to “champion digital transformation across the UK building materials supply chain,” with the Data Yard IDP designed to accelerate data quality, compliance and sustainability across the UK construction ecosystem.
With its investment, Epicor joins merchant powerhouses Bradfords Building Supplies, Fortis Merchants, h&b Buying Group LLP and National Buying Group LLP, helping BMDS reach 50% of its funding target just four months after launch. Together, the four merchant shareholders represent £5.6 billion in annual turnover, said to be equivalent to 21% of the UK merchant market.
“Epicor has been at the heart of the ‘make, move, sell’ industries for more than five decades,” said Michael Kirkham, Product Management Director, International, at Epicor. Michael, who joins the BMDS Operational Board — responsible for managing operational performance, service delivery, defining solution requirements, and driving future developments — continued: “By backing the Data Yard, we are putting that heritage, and our cloud-first Cognitive ERP innovation, to work for the thousands of British manufacturers, merchants, and distributors who rely on accurate product data to trade safely, sustainably, and profitably.”
The Data Yard will provide suppliers with a single, secure location to upload enriched product data, ranging from safety credentials to embodied‑carbon metrics, while giving merchants and their ERP systems real‑time access via open APIs. As a shareholder, Epicor will collaborate with BMDS to embed seamless connectors into its Kinetic, Prophet21 and BisTrack platforms, ensuring customers experience rapid time‑to‑value with minimal custom development.
Gareth Thomas, Managing Director of BMDS, welcomed Epicor’s commitment: “Epicor’s deep sector expertise and global cloud scale strengthen our ambition to create an IDP ‘by the industry, for the industry’. Its technology leadership and customer community will be invaluable as we onboard suppliers ahead of the Data Yard’s public launch at the BMF Members Conference on 18th September.”
Driving standards, supporting sustainability
The Grenfell Tower inquiry and incoming Building Safety Act have heightened demands for robust product provenance, while Net Zero targets place new emphasis on carbon disclosure. By unifying data at source, the Data Yard is intended to allow every stakeholder, from timber merchants to HVAC suppliers, to meet these obligations quickly and consistently, without the costly re‑keying and duplication that characterise current spreadsheet‑based processes.
BMDS is actively enrolling suppliers for onboarding throughout Q3. Epicor customers interested in early integration should contact their account manager or email datayard@bmds‑idp.com.
