There was no hiding place at Interbuild from the fact that the show this year was a tough sell. That’s because there were a third fewer stands and visitors. The organisers did their best to make it fill the space, but there were still echoing empty voids out of sight behind hoardings. The fact that the previous years’ Timber Zone was dropped was another sign of straitened times.
Exhibitors were not, however, sitting round in depressed huddles. They were disappointed by the lower footfall, but insisted that the actual mood at the NEC reflected that of the wider market place, which is one of cautious optimism. Visitors may have been thinner on the ground, but those that did attend were there to do business, or at least to make very specific enquiries.
The number of exhibitors unveiling new products, rather than sticking to tried and tested safe bets, was also seen as an indication of a bit more positivity creeping in.
Despite the lack of a Timber Zone, there were specific plus points at the show for timber too. One was the Sustainability Street feature, which focused on low carbon construction. Most of the house types on show were wood-based, bearing out the theme of the recent American Hardwood Export Council European Convention, that timber is in pole position to capitalise on the drive to ‘green building’ .
Interbuild also backed up views expressed in our special feature this week, that engineered wood products are set to make deeper inroads into the UK market, opening up whole new horizons for timber in construction. If anything, overseas suppliers seem more certain of this than the Brits. For instance, German exhibitor Hess Wohnwerk unveiled its new system for trucking big glulam beams long distances by delivering them in sections and bonding them together on site. It’s clearly a development with the UK firmly in its sights.
