Exhibition News

There was a wealth of demonstrations at this year’s BUDMA – the international construction and architecture fair, held on 30th January – 2nd February 2018, with nearly 1,000 manufacturers and distributors of building materials showcasing over 150 registered new products. Deputy Editor Claire Aldridge reports from the show.

Held at the Poznań International Fair – one of the fastest growing trade fair and conference centres in central and eastern Europe, with 80 trade fairs and 400 congresses held every year – BUDMA is one of the most important meeting places for Polish producers and distributors of modern technologies and building materials.

46,000 visitors headed to the four day event, comprising of trade representatives (44%), contractors (35%), architects (12%), and developers (8%). 53% of visitors were management and 44% were employees/contractors. International vistors totalled 7,000 from 43 countries including 14% from Germany, 13.5% Lithuania, 10% Ukraine, 9% Scandinavia, 6% from Belarus, 6% the Czech Republic, 5% Slovakia, 3.5% Russia, 3% Latvia, 3% the UK, and 2.5% from Belgium. This year also saw a successful buyers programme running alongside the show with over 200 international buyers across 25 countries invited to BUDMA.

BUDMA focused on a variety of key construction markets, including manufacturers of roofing and accessories; recognised brands and new manufacturers of windows, doors, gates and fences; the latest trends and design solutions for flooring and parquet; as well as mounting systems and new technological solutions. Ample new products were on display during the show, with 35 MTP Gold Medal awards handed out – the prestigious award presented by the show underlines a product’s high-quality, technology, and innovation, and looks to highlight products that will make a difference in the construction industry in 2018.

“Polish buyers are changing the way they do business – prefering to instead see the technical information and quality of a product, before the price,” explained one exhbitor – a trend that was clearly reflected throughout the show. Demonstrations at BUDMA included those from TJEP Fastening Systems, showing its rebar tying solution TJEP RE-BAR XP – an effective alternative to manual binding, which is traditionally a monotonous and stressful task. The ergonomic re-bar tier not only improves working conditions, it is also an economic, reliable and effecient solution. Also attracting visitors to its stand was the Polish specialist in construction connection technology B.PRO, with demonstrations of its wide range of gas powered nailers, pneumatic nailers, staplers, and cordless screwdrivers.

Over 100 conferences, presentations, training sessions and events took place during the fair, including the second economic forum of civil engineering and architecture. Topics discussed included new regulations; rules of the ‘National Property Holding’; competitiveness of Polish construction companies in foreign markets; the competitiveness of Polish construction companies and manufacturers of construction products on export markets; and the future of the construction industry – ‘is automation of production and exports a chance for the continuous development of Polish construction companies’. This year’s BUDMA was also accompanied by the KOMINKI fair, INTERMASZ and INFRATEC fairs, presenting the latest proposals in the field of fireplaces, construction machinery and equipment, as well as technologies for infrastructure construction.