'Building Futures Gulf by Batimat' concluded at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre with encouraging exhibitor feedback on visitor participation and other aspects of the show’s organisation.

A total of 225 exhibitors from 26 countries took part in the show. Visitor surveys conducted at the show reveal that 82 per cent of visitors at the show were decision-makers from a range of project management and contracting companies and architecture firms.

Seventy nine per cent of the exhibitors who were polled at the event said that it has exceeded their expectations.

“We are very pleased with the success of the inaugural edition of the show. The event was conceived by Reed Exhibitions in response to a market need here for a comprehensive platform for key stakeholders in the building sector to gain an insight into current happenings and upcoming industry trends”, said Leonard Lecoq, show manager at Reed Exhibitions Middle East.

Leading international names such as Saint Gobain Glass, Knauf, AFICO-Owens Corning, Technal, AMC Protection-Siplast, Dow Corning, Somfy, KME, Kingspan and Corus, and major local and regional companies including Tabreed, Emirates Iron & Steel, Unibeton and Emirates International Investment Company had noticeable presence at the show.

Abdo Aoun, general manager of Somfy Middle East, said: “The show attracted quality visitors and we are happy with our participation here. The visitors at our stand included consultants on façade, contractors, architects and system integrators."

"The industry has moved towards bio-climatic design and we are pleased to have had the opportunity to showcase Somfy’s solutions in this domain." 

Somfy, which is the global leader in providing motors and control systems in residential and commercial buildings, had on display its patented animeo technology the show.

Joaquim Rodrigues, director commercial of Portugal-based Constalica said: “Our participation at the show has resulted in significant orders for Constalica. I am keen to return next year as I am happy with the return-on-investment from our participation at this first edition”.

According to Srijit Babu, sales manager at Merint, representative commercial agency of Saint-Gobain Glass in the UAE: “Although the number of visitors has not been very high, every visitor we have had at our stand has been of a relevant target profile”.

The International Architects Conference was also held on the sidelines of the show during which a panel of expert speakers comprising world renowned architects shared their insights on a wide variety of topics including the concept of wholelife value of buildings, environmentally sustainable construction techniques.

The panel also discussed other key issues confronting the Middle East building industry from an architectural stand-point.

The highlight of the last day’s presentations was a joint session addressed by Gaetan Siew, current President of UIA and Professor German Suarez Betancourt from Colombia who spoke on “The Whole life value concept for cost effective and sustainable buildings”.-TradeArabia News Service