Tough Interbuild looks to 2009 revamp revival

Visitor figures for this year’s Interbuild exhibition won’t be available for another week but organisers have admitted that numbers were down, while exhibitor stands fell 36% to about 700 from 1,100 a year ago.

Set against a challenging background for the construction industry, which has seen 71,000 jobs lost this year, the UK’s biggest building products exhibition was clearly never going to break any records in 2008.

A major revamp is planned next year, with the show reducing from five to four days and “Interbuild Specifier” forming a showcase of construction products, process and design.

Forty-one exhibitors were booked into The Timber Zone, compared with 60 in 2007, although a few timber firms were situated outside the Zone. Some timber frame companies booked to attend had failed earlier in the year (Covers Timber Structures, Goodwins Timber Frame) and there was no presence from the Austrian Trade Commission which accounted for several timber companies last year.

Brazil, Guyana and the US booked Zone stands for the generic promotion of their timber products.

TRADA, which has helped co-ordinate the Zone with organisers Emap during the past three years, said despite fewer numbers the show was better than expected given the economic climate.

“The Timber Zone was created so that timber companies didn’t get ‘lost’,” said Jeremy Vibert, TRADA’s head of marketing and information services, “and there has been huge interest in it – in fact 65% of last year’s visitors to Interbuild said they had an interest in timber.”

Many of those visitors, including the 500 or so that were clocked on TRADA’s own stand, were looking for innovative solutions to give them a competitive edge.

TRADA used scaled-down timber models to draw people in to its stand, such as the Screedflo flooring solution, a timber frame house section and a display of different hipped roof constructions. It also highlighted its various services such as TRADA Certification and frameCheck.

“There has been a huge interest in timber frame,” said Mr Vibert, “with many people looking at it as an option for the first time.”

The best attended TRADA seminars were those on the Code for Sustainable Homes, and green oak construction.