Construmat records historic figures

CONSTRUMAT, the International Construction Exhibition, organised by Fira de Barcelona, closed its most successful show ever on Saturday 16th April, having achieved a record breaking audience of over 265,000, according to the Firakey visitor’s record, and a million business contacts. CONSTRUMAT, el Salón Internacional de la Construcción que organiza Fira de Barcelona, ha cerrado hoy sábado 16 de abril su edición más exitosa con unas cifras récord de más de 265.000 visitantes, según indica el registro de visitantes de Fira de Barcelona, FiraKey, y de un millón de contactos comerciales establecidos.

The exhibition was held from 11th to 16th April in Fira de Barcelona’s Montjuïc and Gran Vía showgrounds and by Friday had recorded audience figures that were 14% up on the previous show, with an important increase in foreign visitor numbers. 

CONSTRUMAT has well exceeded its expectations and staged the largest show ever in terms of exhibitors, with 4,391 companies -between direct exhibitors and represented firms- and net overall stands space of 140,450 m2.

This year, the exhibition had two additional new pavilions, 3 and 4, in the Gran Vía showground, and hopes to have more space available for the 2007 show, once the venue’s second expansion phase has been completed.

The trade fair institution’s Studies Department estimates that CONSTRUMAT has generated some 200 million euros worth of business in Barcelona and its surrounding area, especially in catering and transport services.

Forum for debate and reflection in the construction sector

CONSTRUMAT 2005 provided an international forum for debate and reflection on the future of construction through the new APTM project, which has researched a type of minimal, affordable social housing, built with quality materials and adapted to new needs; the 3rd Casa Barcelona project, which proposes the adaptation of housing to people; and the Sustainable Building Sector, which undertakes a more environmentally friendly type of construction.

These events featured conferences by relevant architects such as Glenn Murcutt, Carlos Jiménez and Ignacio Paricio, in the Casa Barcelona project; Anne Lacaton, Josep Bohigas, Juan Herreros, Santiago Cirugeda, and Gustavo Gili, in the APTM project and the architect Rem Koolhaas, winner of the European Union - Mies van der Rohe Contemporary Architecture Award, who was presented with the award during the exhibition.  
CONSTRUMAT also focused the debate on the future of the Sustainable Building sector, with the presence of one of the most important figures in this field, Chris Hails, programme director of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Present for the second consecutive year, Sustainable Building provided the setting for the renewal of the Declaration of Barcelona on Sustainable Building, an important document signed at CONSTRUMAT 2003 by some of the leading international architects organisations.

This declaration, which is a step towards a commitment of collaboration between architects and building professionals for this type of building, was signed by the following representatives: Jaime Lerner, president of the Unión Internacional de Arquitectos (UIA); Juan Carlos Hernández Pezzi, president of the Consejo Superior de Colegios de Arquitectos de España (CSCAE); Bill Gething, president of the Commission for Sustainable Futures of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA); Douglas L. Steidl, president of the American Institute of Architects (AIA); and the presidents of the Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA) and the Verband Deutscher Industrie Designer (VDID), Kaspar Kraemer and Sussanne Lengyel, by which the German groups subscribed to the Declaration.

The exhibition also set the scene for the awards ceremonies of the Construmat Awards to innovation in construction, promoted by Departament de Política Territorial i Obres Públiques de la Generalitat de Catalunya and the Technical Secretariat of the ITeC. During the ceremony, the Councillor for Territorial Policy and Public Works of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Joaquim Nadal, highlighted the projection achieved by CONSTRUMAT this year, surpassing other European shows such as Batimat.

CONSTRUMAT is a trade show of Fira de Barcelona, the leading organiser of industrial and professional exhibitions in Spain and one of the first four in Europe in number of events.