Famous faces and big brands come together as the U.K.’s largest built environment event makes welcome return to capital.
The U.K.’s largest event for the built environment, UK Construction Week (UKCW) London made a welcome return to ExCeL London last week with a string of exclusive launches, a star-studded line-up of speakers, international pavilions from across the globe and a host of new features.
The three-day show included well-known speakers such as Dragons’ Den star Sara Davies MBE; former England international footballer Trevor Steven; architect and Channel 4 presenter George Clarke; and Andrew Lewer, MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for SME Housebuilders and Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee.
Co-located with Concrete Expo and The Offsite Show, UKCW London was sponsored and supported by some of the industry’s biggest names, including ABC+ Warranty; Barbour ABI; HotelPlanner; MERS; Oracle Construction and Engineering; Design & Build UK; the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB); Offsite Alliance; the Model Power Boat Association (MPBA); BSF; the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB); and British Offsite.
With more than 7,000 products on display from more than 300 exciting exhibitors including Ford, British Offsite, Peri, PlanRadar, Celsa Steel UK, Containex and Don & Low, the multi award-winning show attracted a wealth of overseas exhibitors and visitors.
UKCW London highlights included:
- UKCW’s biggest-ever display of international pavilions from China, Türkiye, Italy, Estonia and a new Sicilian Pavilion, which showcased 16 high-end interiors companies, including Colorificio Atria, Settipani Srl and Nikkolor Italia, which used UKCW London for the global launch of its unique new decorating material, Etna, which features ash collected from Sicily’s famous [active] volcano.
- Construction Sport’s pre-show Van Rally North, which travelled more than 1,000 mi. from London to John O’Groats and back to raise funds and support construction families affected by suicide.
- A major focus on skills development, apprenticeships and training, including the Worldskills Building Information Modelling (BIM) challenge, which brought together the next generation of BIM experts from across the globe; a new Skills and Training Hub, a first-time collaboration with the CITB; and a new Careers and Recruitment Zone featuring specialist recruiters from the construction sector.
- An array of high-profile speakers, including Ron Lang, Regional director, Atkins Réalis; Manjit Rana, head of Sustainable Commercial Improvement, National Highways; Trudi Sully, U.K. and Europe lead — Industrialised Design & Construction, Mott Macdonald; and Robert Claridge, Europe Learning Solutions owner, Laing O’Rourke
- Shining a spotlight on the unsung heroes and talented professionals in the construction industry, the Role Models Campaign, now in its seventh year, announced the shortlists for the three new categories, with the winners to be revealed at UKCW Birmingham in October:
- Rising Star: Rekiya Shodunke — Berkeley St Edward; Ben Shirley — New Model Institute of Technology and Engineering; Harkirat Kohar — AtkinsRéalis; Bethany Collins — Building & Plumbing Supplies Ltd.; Tom O’Dwyer — Mott MacDonald
- Pioneer: Cathryn Greville — Action Sustainability; Kat Parsons — All Female Design & Build Project; Mayur Gondhea — Cubelynx Ltd.; Danielle Haskings — MCS; Lydia McGuinness — Wates Construction; James Brown — Prodtex; Ben Channon — Ekkist; Erato Mygdaliou — Joseph Gallagher; Jennie Armstrong — Construction Health and Wellbeing Ltd.; Stacey Brooke – Ridge and Partners LLP; Lorna Hagan — ConstructTuition Ltd.; Stephen Brunning – Sterling DCS; Olayemi Usman — Turner & Townsend; Helen Gawor — Building Strategy Consulting; Kevin Pratt — Pure Haus
- Icon: Carol Massay — The Access Group; Ceri Evans — Mace Group; Rachel Bell — Stride Treglown; Kelly Cartwright — Core Recruitment; John Woodward — Retired, C&D Consulting Engineers; Jade Cohen — QFlow; Brittany Harris — QFlow; Paula McMahon — Sir Robert McAlpine; Naim Basha — Wilten Construction; Tim Young — Lovell; Bethany Holroyd — Human Capital Partners; George Mokhtar — Turner & Townsend; Andrew Langridge — Sterling DCS; Terry Kirby — Berkeley St Edward; Eve Livett — The Association of Brickwork Contractors
- The winning exhibitors for this year’s Stand Awards were announced, and included:
- Best Space Only — MERS
- Best Shell Scheme — Hahn Plastics Ltd.
- Best Marketing — Containex
- Best Interactive Stand — Orko Electrical
Sam Patel, divisional director — Construction, UKCW, said after the show:
“Feedback and visitor registrations for this year’s UKCW London have been phenomenal — confirming its place as the industry’s premier event. New features such as the Sicilian Pavilion, Demo Zone and Skills & Training Hub have been really well received; we can’t wait to bring even more insight and innovation to UKCW Birmingham when the show returns in October. See you all at the NEC!”
Matthew Baxendale, head of Sales and Marketing, Hahn Plastics, said:
“It’s been a good show again — we saw a diverse portfolio of customers, from architects and engineers to large companies like the MOD and Incheon Airport. This is great for us as we have such a diverse product range, and UKCW is the opportunity to be in front of so many different people.”
Jordan Wright, Marketing manager, Metrotile, commented:
“We do UKCW every year — it’s a good collaboration and puts us in front of the right people. This year we were promoting our new solar tile, which we launched at UKCW last year and we got hundreds of leads from it. We also had a 45-min slot in the Demo Zone which went really well.”
Patrick Douglas, Regional Sales manager, Euro Towers, said:
“We’re enjoying the international pavilions as it has attracted a more international audience, which is great for us. We had a brilliant potential customer pretty quickly on the first day, which could be all it takes to make this show worth it.”
John Walton, Façade Sales manager, Ibstock Futures, noted:
“We are a relatively new division, and UKCW is a great showcase for us to get the ball rolling, especially being alongside Concrete Expo; it attracts a good range of companies like London Quadrant, Laing, Mace and local authorities. The visitors have been good quality, and we’ve had some great conversations with Grade 1 clientele.”
Dates for the next two UKCW shows have already been announced: UKCW Birmingham will be on 1-3 October, while UKCW London will return on 6-8 May 2025.
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