Ecobuild – the construction industry's Glastonbury

In the week that EMAP announced it was pulling the plug on Interbuild/BEST, blaming a depressed construction industry, Ecobuild was having a stomping good time with a sensational turnout. Despite relocating to ExCel in east London’s ‘outback’, there was no hint of the ‘R’ word. At Ecobuild, it was boom time.

Ecobuild has become the construction industry’s Glastonbury!

Just like Glastonbury, Ecobuild started out with a bunch of what may have seemed like hippy-types talking environment and all that eco-friendly stuff, but it has evolved into a massive mainstream event that attracts exhibitors by the hundreds and visitors by the tens of thousands. Whilst over the years its environmental credentials may have become slightly diluted (as have Glastonbury’s), nevertheless many of the exhibitors still rightly ‘spin’ their presentation with a deep green hue. A good example was Norbord’s stand that trumpeted green miles and FSC; and just next door a more future-focused stance was being taken on the Accsys Technologies’ stand where all was being revealed about the revolutionary potential of Medite Tricoya, a next generation exterior MDF.

For timber folk Ecobuild 2011 has been good news. Timber was not only very well represented, it was also being effectively portrayed as a modern and relevant building product – as it should, given its unique green credentials with its renewable and certified offerings. Timber’s appeal was confirmed by busy stands, packed product presentations and specifiers seeking information.

Major distribution groups like Arnold Laver illustrated the expanding breadth of the wood-based offering which was underlined by the scores of stands from individual timber marketers. Austro German engineered CLT beams were showing a way forward… one senior industry figure was overheard saying he hoped this could prompt someone soon to start manufacturing these in the British Isles and from home-grown timber too. The Canadians were also there in impressive strength. A couple of decades ago they were allocating their boat loads of coniferous plywood and hemlock lumber; today Canada is marketing value-added and speciality wood-based products, especially western red cedar.

At Ecobuild 2011 the timber industry came of age – the modern age. Exhibitors there are no longer selling plywood or softwood by the truckload, they’re marketing solutions – timber- based products designed to deliver a precise performance and undertake a specific function.

So how has Ecobuild become unmissable?

The business model offers outstanding value to the visitor. The programme of free lectures by experts and leading industry figures that runs seamlessly through the three days is awesome in its scale, scope and quality. You could pay £700 a day for something similar at a conference. Just as at Glastonbury, these presentations aren’t limited to the main stages but take place throughout the site. For example, on the Kingston University stand, I joined a roundtable session where topics like sustainability were being debated by well-informed and opinionated industry leaders.

Anyone being sent to the Timber Expo in Coventry this autumn needs to take note and recognise it’s the value that Ecobuild offers that persuades visitors to come in such large numbers. If Timber Expo can do something similar then Coventry could be a happening place this September.