New World of Concrete Europe event

World of Concrete Europe will be held in a new format early next year, having been launched as part of last year’s Intermat show in Paris, France.

The Comexposium Group, organiser of Intermat, entered into a partnership with Informa Exhibitions, which runs the annual World of Concrete show in the US.

They said that building on the success of the first edition, they had decided to pool their expertise again to launch a new event called World of Concrete Europe – Exhibition & Forum. This will comprise an exhibition area and a programme of seminars and round tables.

Tom Cindric, vice president of Informa, described the new event as more than a conference, but smaller than an exhibition. For example, the size of stands will be restricted – largely to 9m² or 18m². He said this would help keep costs down, while enabling companies to exhibit in front of customers “in an intimate setting”.

He said, “World of Concrete Europe at Intermat did a good with exhibitors, but we need to do a better job to attract concrete-based contractors.”

However, he added, “We don’t want huge numbers – it will be very focused.”

The plan is to have 125 exhibitors made up of concrete, cement and mortar producers, plus manufacturers of materials, machines and equipment, formwork and scaffolding, demolition, lifting and handling accessories. Designers of special and decorative concrete, new technologies and measuring instruments, and more are also expected to exhibit.

The organisers hope to attract 2,000 visitors and 500 conference delegates. These are expected to be made up of building and civil engineering contractors, suppliers and manufacturers of materials – concrete, cement, aggregates, admixtures, etc – and distributors of concrete products and tools. Then there will be residential housing builders, contracting authorities, local authorities, prime contractors, etc, said the organisers.

The new event will be held on 22 and 23 February, 2017, at the Palais des Congrès in Paris.

‘Point of convergence’

Comexposium said that this European event dedicated to concrete and aimed at the construction and infrastructure community would be “the point of convergence for the sector’s leaders, offering visitors an exhaustive view and an expert vision of the latest innovations, trends and technological, digital, aesthetic and environmental developments in the field of technologies, applications, equipment, etc”.

It said emphasis would be placed on a series of educational and interactive seminars and workshops, devised together with concrete organisations from all over Europe.

Cindric said that as the main language would be French, the event was aimed mainly at French and North African visitors.

An opening plenary session and 15 seminar sessions over the two days of the event will deal with themes such as the lifecycle, recycling and the circular economy of concrete, life span of concrete constructions, art and concrete, BIM and concrete, etc.