The Office Exhibition 2012 opened in Dubai on Tuesday showcasing the largest variety of office fit-out and design solutions from more than 130 companies across the globe.

Humaid Mohamed Obaid Al Qutami, the UAE Minister of Education, inaugurated the top show for office interiors which runs till May 17 at Dubai World Trade Centre.

Now in its 11th year, The Office Exhibition has developed into the Middle East’s premier destination for architects, designers and business decision makers looking for new products and design ideas for the workplace, said the event organisers.

The show has already seen a 15 per cent increase in visitor pre-registrations compared to last year with more than 5,500 trade and business delegates registered to attend the 2012 show, they stated.

“We have received an outstanding response from companies worldwide to participate in the show this year. As a result of this, we have expanded our show floor by 17 per cent," said David Wilson, event director of The Office Exhibition.

"The region’s commercial real estate sector is making a positive comeback with promising opportunities and our exhibitors obviously want to take advantage of these," he remarked.

"Being the region’s only dedicated show for commercial interior environments, there is no better place to do business," he added.

With the GCC seeing a recovery trend in the real estate segment, international manufacturers are eyeing growing business opportunities in the region’s commercial fit-out market. The show has seen an increase in exhibitor interest from many countries including Italy, Germany, Portugal, the US and the wider Middle East.

“We are pleased to welcome a host of first-time participants at the show this year. Newcomers at ‘The Campus’ - our contingent of companies from The Americas - include Canadian heavyweights Global and Allseating as well as Trendway from the U.S. The return of our long-standing participants Guialmi, Diemme, Sedus and many others reinforces the significance of the show to international manufacturers,” remarked Wilson. 

The expo opened with an awards ceremony to honour the winners of The Middle East Office and Hospitality Product Design Awards.

Organised and judged by the International Interior Design Association (IIDA), the competition acknowledged exhibitors with the most innovative products in the office interiors and hospitality sectors.

The results of The Office Exhibition Interior Design Competition – recognising the best interior design projects across the Middle East followed in the afternoon.

In addition to being the chosen platform for 145 products launches, The Office Exhibition has an exciting range of award-winning designs on showcase.

‘The Campus’ saw the regional launch of Trendway’s Trig, a sleek and modular desking range that can be fitted in both private and open plan offices, in addition to Allseating’s ‘Tuck’ and ‘Ayr’ stacking chairs that are ideal for healthcare and education facilities due to their light weight, durability and good looks.

European manufacturers also have a compelling range of products on display. Guialmi from Portugal launched its ‘Origami’ system, an elegant range of trapezoidal desks and executive furniture while Germany’s Sedus unveiled the ‘black dot net’ swivel chair; the 94% recyclable ergonomic chair is one of the most sustainable swivel chairs in the market.

Also on display is the “Officity X8” desk range. Launched by Italy’s Quadrifoglio, it makes use of port-holes and flip-tops to allow better cable management and create more desk space.

Key launches from the Far East include the Alzata Spine desking range from Japan’s Okamura and the ‘Happy Office’ desking range from Singapore’s Office Planner.

The ‘Alzata Spine’ system uses a single panel as the base that is attachable to different components allowing customisation for various environments while the ‘Happy Office’ system is a sophisticated open plan desking range defined by sleek lines and contours.

Offering an increased focus on market education and knowledge exchange, The Office Exhibition this year launched a series of complimentary educational seminars and workshops.

Woody Lennard, managing partner, Oceana Gulf said: "It is the only dedicated show in the Middle East where we can exhibit our extensive product range, meet with a focused audience seeking suppliers for active projects and identify distributors."

"The Middle East is seeing an uptick in infrastructure developments and this is the perfect gateway for us to target new growth markets across the region," he added.-TradeArabia News Service