Summary
¦ Ecobuild takes place from March 1-3.
¦ The show has moved to the ExCeL exhibition and conference centre.
¦ Its footprint will be 50% bigger than last year.
¦ An online itinerary planner will help visitors plan their day.
¦ Highlights will include Pasquill’s Extreme timber and a pair of Passivhaus houses.
The most talked about exhibition for the construction industry is on the near horizon and – almost incredibly – is set to surpass its previous incarnations in both visitor and exhibitor numbers and, more importantly, its influence.
The show, of course, is Ecobuild. Last year exhibitor numbers approached the 1,000 mark, while visitor numbers topped 41,000 – a 20% increase over the 2009 figure. This year’s show has continued to grow like Topsy, to the point where a new venue has been necessary.
Ecobuild 2011 will take place on March 1-3 at London’s ExCeL exhibition and conference centre. It’s a much larger venue than the exhibition’s former home, Earls Court, but it has more than size in its favour as Moira Edwards, event director of Ecobuild organiser IBE Ltd, explained.
“Ecobuild’s footprint will be 50% bigger again in 2011. Its previous venue simply couldn’t accommodate that growth,” she said. “But the move to ExCeL isn’t simply a matter of space – it’s a modern, purpose-built environment with fantastic facilities and transport links.
“That means we’ve been able to create a much more logical and easily navigable layout in which exhibitors showcasing similar products and technologies are clustered together, with relevant seminars and attractions located close by. That, combined with Ecobuild’s new online itinerary planner, means that visitors should find getting around Ecobuild much easier and much more efficient.”
Green enterprise zone
And, she added, as ExCeL is at the heart of London mayor Boris Johnson’s green enterprise zone, some of the most exciting and most talked about construction projects in the country are taking place on its doorstep. “It’s appropriate that as London embraces new opportunities to the east, Ecobuild is there at the vanguard,” said Ms Edwards.
Visitor numbers are also expected to rise in line with last year’s percentage increase and are likely to break the 50,000 barrier, an indication, said Ms Edwards, of a vibrancy that underpins the construction sector despite its recent straitened times. In spite, or perhaps because of the problems of the last couple of years and the challenges that lie ahead, the sector sees sustainability as “its number one priority and its best opportunity”.
“[The construction sector] is fast-moving and hugely innovative, so there is so much that’s new to catch up on, whether it’s products and technologies or regulations and, as Ecobuild has grown, it’s the very best and most efficient place to do that,” said Ms Edwards.
And, increasingly, Ecobuild is recognised as the place for the sector to come together and scratch heads about the challenges, take up the opportunities and celebrate the successes – an event that’s enjoyable as well as useful.
Timber presence
The timber sector will be represented by around 100 exhibitors, either offering timber products or using them in the structures they will build at the event. Of these, highlights will include Ecobuild regular Bill Dunster demonstrating the StramitZED. This latest addition to the ZEDFactory’s eco-housing stable is built from straw board combined with timber and recycled newspaper insulation to form cassettes. The house achieves Code for Sustainable Homes level 6 and the claim is it can be built for £135,000 – £20,000 less than the normal cost of constructing a level 6 dwelling.
Another structural display will be Pasquill’s “Extreme timber” attraction. A hyperbolic paraboloid, with two large curved and twisting engineered timber structures it will demonstrate not just glulam’s aesthetic qualities, but also that, with its low embodied energy, it’s a realistic option for large-span structures.
“One of the more ambitious builds at Ecobuild will be a pair of two-storey Passivhaus-compliant dwellings each providing an internal floor area of 135m² and each including a room in the roof space,” said Ms Edwards. The design of the units, by Miller Hughes Associates, will be taken from a live Passivhaus scheme of 38 units currently being built for Saxon Weald Housing Association in Horsham and using an advanced structural insulated panel (SIP) system provided by members of the UK SIPs Association.
More traditional carpentry skills will be the focus of daily demonstrations by Carpenter Oak in Ecobuild’s “Natural, traditional, sustainable” attraction.
