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06/11/2006
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Construtec concludes its best edition
The fair achieves record participation figures, featuring some 1,142 represented companies and 37,073 visiting professionals.
The Ninth Building Exhibition, CONSTRUTEC 2006 which took place between 9th and 12th October 2006 at Feria de Madrid, has staged its best edition ever. The figure of 37,073 trade visitors recorded at the fair, almost 5,000 more than at the last edition in 2004, is in line with the favourable expectations that the event had aroused and also reflect the fair's role as one of the leading business forums for the industry. In fact, this edition achieved record participation figures in all senses.
In effect, CONSTRUTEC 2006 brought together some 1,142 represented companies at 642 stands (which represents an increase of 21 per cent compared to the year 2004), distributed throughout a net exhibition area measuring 36,434.25 square metres (an increase of 31 per cent). Furthermore, we might highlight the fact that this event, organised by IFEMA, also attracted a considerable level of business participation on the part of foreign companies. Specifically, 58 direct exhibitors took part (an 8.48 per cent increase compared to two years ago), attending the fair from 22 different countries.
. Trade Visitors
With regard to the final visitor figure of 37,073 (nearly 5,000 more than in 2004), this confirms the fair's favourable reception in professional circles and reflects the ongoing growth that CONSTRUTEC has enjoyed throughout its history. This visitor figures also includes the 455 journalists who provided coverage of the fair.
The foreign visitor figures also testify to the increasingly important international dimension of CONSTRUTEC. In short, some 1,335 visitors from 75 countries attended the event, with the following nationalities making up the largest groups: Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Moroccan, Russian, Finnish, Mexican, Belgian, Argentinean and Estonian.
With regard to Spanish visitors, professionals attended the fair from all over Spain. Apart from Madrid, the most strongly represented regions were Castile-La Mancha and Castile-Leon, Andalusia, the Valencian Region, Catalonia and Galicia.
According to sectors of activity, the most strongly represented sector was that of builders, accounting for 16.55% of visitors, followed by stockists, accounting for 12.34%, architects, (9.79%); surveyors (9.65%); decorators (7.76%); land administrators (5.48%); consultants (4.70%); members of professional associations
(4.36%); installers, (4.18%); quantity surveyors (3.08%); interior decorators (2.83%); financial entities, (2.77%); property developers, (2.48%); architecture students, (2.04%); Industrial engineers, (2.01%); maintenance, (1.94%); civil engineers (1.83%); hospitals/clinics, (1.72%) technical architects, (1.67%); hotels, (1.20%); industrial technical engineers (1.19%), and Administration supervisors (0.43%).
According to the sections of the exhibition that were of greatest interest to visitors, the majority (63.70 per cent) revealed an interest in the general CONSTRUTEC area, whilst 11.24 per cent opted for the Second Monographic Prefabricated Concrete Exhibition, and 11.24 per cent showed an interest in the Interior Architecture Exhibition, DECOTEC (which staged its seventh edition, the second consecutive event within the framework of CONSTRUTEC). Furthermore, 7.87 per cent show an interest in the new Monographic Exhibition on Wood in Architecture, and 5.38 per cent in one of the star meetings of the Specialised Conference Programme, the First CONSTRUTEC 2006 International Architecture Congress on "Cutting-Edge Architecture".
. Architecture Plays a Leading Role in the Coinciding Activities
It was precisely this Congress, among other activities staged within the framework of CONSTRUTEC, that highlighted the intimate link that exists between architecture and the world of building. The Congress presented a number of unique buildings, such as a Leper Colony in India, a Swimming Centre in China, a Natural Sciences Museum in Japan, an Eco-Boulevard in Madrid and a Residential Complex in Brazil. Throughout the course of the Congress, a total of 2,520 participants were recorded at the conferences organised by the Official College of Architects of Madrid. The architect, Sergio de Miguel was the curator of the Congress.
The Congress also offered experts an opportunity to analyse different aspects of the Technical Building Code (CTE), a highly topical matter whose introduction is forcing the sector to make a considerable effort in terms of adaptation to the new regulations. These evening sessions were organised by the Higher Council of Architecture Colleges of Spain, CSCAE.
Furthermore, it just so happens that this year is the 75th Anniversary of this body, which habitually collaborates with IFEMA in organising the various exhibitions it stages relating to the building industry. Thus, within the framework of Architecture Week, an event organised by COAM each year and that encompasses a series of visits to emblematic buildings throughout Madrid and its surrounding areas, the Week was concluded on this occasion with a series of Open Door Days, on which the general public were invited to visit Feria de Madrid during the course of CONSTRUTEC. In this respect, the Madrid public were able to discover, under the guidance of COAM
architects, all the virtues of IFEMA's facilities, which were designed by the well-known architects, Sáenz de Oíza, Junquera and Pérez Pita.
Furthermore, COAM supports the various editions of the Stands Design Competition, which takes place at IFEMA fairs connected to the world of construction. The fourth edition of the Competition took place at CONSTRUTEC 2006. Various exhibitors at the fair (Aislamientos País; Hnos. Díaz Redondo, S.A.; La Paloma Cerámica y Gres; Leicons, Construçao de Edificios, Lda.; Nemetschek España, S.A.; Puertas San Rafael, and Sicka, S.A.) carried out the design of their exhibition spaces in accordance with the projects produced by the Competition's winning architects.
Spanish architects opt for structural materials that offer a sense of innovation and quality: this could be the conclusion of the meeting on "Architecture, Construction and Quality of Life", organised by the Spanish Association of Fired Clay Brick and Tile Manufacturers, HISPALYT. The magisterial address was delivered by the architect, Alejandro Zaera - Polo, who highlighted the versatility of ceramic materials, in both a structural and decorative sense. He also referred to his award-winning construction, the Spanish Pavilion at the Aichi Expo in Japan, which presented a multi-coloured façade made of ceramic hexagons.
. A New Sector
Architecture, this time associated with wooden structures, also provided the theme for a series of conferences organised by one of the main business associations within this segment, AITIM, the Wood Industries Technical Research Association. This association, alongside other bodies from the sector, promoted the first edition of the Monographic Exhibition on Wood in Architecture, staged within the framework of CONSTRUTEC.
Returning to the issue of the Technical Building Code (CTE), omnipresent throughout the entire industry, this set of regulations was also analysed at a meeting on "Passive Fire Protection and Building", organised by the Association for the Promotion of Fire Safety Research and Technology, AFITI, in conjunction with Tecnifuego - Aespi and Cepreven. This meeting concluded that, with the entry into force of the CTE, the former Testing Reports issued by laboratories would no longer apply and new classification schemes would be required to record the reaction of materials to fire.
Other aspects tackled during the course of the CONSTRUTEC 2006 Specialised Conferences included the following: "Safety at Height"; "Spanish Steel Regulations" and "Galvanised Steel in Construction". Two other meetings also took
place: the Concrete Forum and the Spanish Building Technology Forum. We might also mention the Technology Transfer Conferences. All of these events were promoted by the main bodies and organisations within this economic segment, providing an added-value dimension at the trade exhibition.
One of these bodies, the Building Employment Foundation, which carries out educational activities within this field, staged the National Bricklaying Competition on 12th October, in which twenty pairs from all over Spain and some foreign pairings (from Ecuador, Romania and Morocco) competed for the winning prizes. Each pair, made up of an official bricklayer and an assistant, were given a practical exercise to complete that consisted of building an arch on two pilasters. The pairs were informed of the exercise the moment the competition began and the organisers provided all the necessary materials to complete the task.
The Jury evaluated aspects such as preventive measures, staking out, the quality of the finish (ceramic stone, rendering and visible brick) and job organisation. The winners, in first place, were the bricklayers from Madrid, Juan Andrés González Iglesias and Luis Tabara Castaño; in second place were the Riojan pair, Ricardo Tornero Bohoyo and David Lerena Garante; third place went to the Catalan pair, Josep Agustí More and Arturo Martín Alfonso (from Santa María de Palau Tordera).
CONSTRUTEC also provided the setting for the signature of agreements of all kinds. In this respect, we might highlight the agreement signed between CONSTRUTEC and Infoempleo.com, the first specialised employment portal in Spain. The aim of this alliance is to create a Work Pool, consisting of companies operating within the sector that have a constant need to contract qualified staff.
The trade exhibition as a whole and the debating forum at CONSTRUTEC reflected the excellent climate that currently exists within the building industry in Spain. The present boom has provided a boost for the building materials and equipment sector represented at the fair. As an example of this favourable climate, we might highlight the fact that the clay tile and brick manufacturers segment, represented by its employers' association, HISPALYT, expects to end the year 2006 with an output of 30 million tons, thus shaping up as the leading European producer of this material. For their part, scaffolding assembly companies, according to the corresponding association, AEMA, generate an annual turnover of between 500 and 600 million euros. As far as the wood segment is concerned, the last to be incorporated into the Building Exhibition, this segment, according to its business association, AITIM, is made up of 11,300 companies, which provide employment to around 100,000 people.
The building materials sector has a date with the tenth edition of the Building Exhibition, CONSTRUTEC 2008, which, in view of the biennial nature of the event, will take place between 8th and 11th October 2008.
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(Informationsquelle: Ifema)
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