Following the announcement of the UK government’s ‘Net Zero Strategy; Build Back Greener’ and the outcomes of the COP26 conference, Futurebuild, previously Ecobuild, will be perfectly timed to address the key issues that the built environment faces. The focus is no longer about ambition — it is about delivery.
As an event which attracts 20,000+ senior professionals from right across the built environment, Futurebuild is an opportunity for the industry to meet and collaborate to achieve the transformational change needed if the built environment is going to reach net zero.
“Now it is more important than ever to meet in person and do business face to face because our exhibitors and attendees are all working towards a common goal — achieving net zero,” explained Martin Hurn, event director at Futurebuild. “To ensure we can deliver a sustainable future we’ve curated an event that cultivates cross-sector collaboration, addresses key industry issues and inspires transformational change.”
SHOW SECTIONS
As the home of innovation, Futurebuild 2022 will be organised into six sections — Buildings, Offsite, Interiors, Resourceful Materials, Energy and Critical Infrastructure. The event will also feature six spotlights: Digital Impact in partnership with Glider; Whole House Retrofit in partnership with the Retrofit Academy; Circular Materials in partnership with 540 World; District Energy in partnership with UKDEA; Future Installer in partnership with MCS; and Intelligent Buildings in partnership with KNX.
The curated event will showcase over 250 leading brands, the companies who are developing the most innovative technologies, products and solutions. Rhino Modified Wood, for example, sources sustainably-grown plantation timber and uses a two-step wood modification technique to produce a high-quality product comparable to hardwoods.
Timber products exhibitor James Latham is pushing boundaries of materials selection and is recognised in the sector as a supplier of cutting edge technologies. And exhibitor Q-Bot developed a solution, verified by the Energy Savings Trust and supported by BEIS and Innovate UK, that retrofits insulation to suspended timber floors.
More than 10 million UK homes have suspended timber floors, but very few have been insulated. Q-Bot’s product offers a non-intrusive energy efficiency measure that eliminates draughts, cuts carbon emissions and reduces heating costs.
Additionally, Pfeifer, a leading company in the European wood industry, will showcase the benefits of cross-laminated timber. And wedi, an industry leader of tilebacker solutions in Europe, will showcase its newest innovation — flush-to-floor linear shower elements for timber floors.
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
Visitors can also attend Futurebuild’s renowned conference programme, which is sponsored by Construction Innovation Hub. The first session on day one — Beyond COP26: our action programme — focuses on the actions the UK construction industry is taking to reduce emissions. Other sessions invite experts to share experience on 11 selected topics, including the regulation of embodied carbon, resource efficiency, financial considerations and retrofitting.
In the keynote stage sessions, partners and speakers will provide innovative solutions to address the biggest challenges facing the built environment. The Resourceful Materials section sponsored by Covestro Deutschland, for example, showcases innovations in material efficiency and how switching to greener construction materials can reduce lifetime emissions for buildings by 44% by 2050. On day two of the knowledge programme the Structural Timber Association will chair a session on using more timber in construction as part of the government’s ‘Build Back Greener’ strategy’.
On day one of the Resourceful Materials programme, panel speakers from businesses such as Timber Accelerator Hub and BM TRADA, will explore overcoming the difficulties of building innovative timber-based construction systems. Each keynote stage session will be delivered by industry-leading partners and associations such as the STA, Passivhaus Trust, MCS, Building for 2050, The Concrete Centre and many more.
