The construction trade show ‘London Build’ has arrived for two days in the November rain to fill the National Hall of Olympia.

The key to making the success of this event is to attend one of the many seminars and discussions in the 9 conference theatres themed on Future London, London Design, Interiors & Fit-out, BIM & Digital Construction, Smart London, Sustainability, Interior & Fit-out, Innovation, Skills Hub, Fire Safety & Innovation and Infrastructure or one of the other networking events and knowledge exchange including, to its credit, one for Women in Construction.

While the events may have focussed on current issues including innovation, climate change and the challenges of delivering the hundreds of thousands of new houses promised by the politicians, this was not strongly evident in the 350 trade stands.  Covering a multitude of different aspects of the construction industry from handmade bricks to scaffolding, from wireless emergency lighting to health and safety and from planning consultancy to project databases including, it was good to see, a focus on diversity and on mental health awareness in the workforce, there was not much that seemed to take us into the bold new world we need to go.  Also, there was little about the show itself being sustainable – I could not find any mention in the Show Guide (which puts it on a back foot behind other shows) and there were far too many single-use plastic bottles of water evident across the various stands.

Next year the show moves into the Central Hall at Olympia, a measure of its success and increasing interest.  Let’s hope it doesn’t miss this opportunity to set a benchmark that other shows at Olympia should follow!  At the very least, lets have some drinking water refilling stations….

Post show note:  I’ve just been across to the other side of London and discovered where the sustainability and innovation in delivery focus are:  they are at EMEX, the Energy Management Exhibition, and HOMES UK being held at EXCEL.  Is there any way that at least London Build and EMEX could coordinate together in the one location, and ideally also HOMES UK, but as an exhibition it does stand alone.   I wonder how many people have to trudge from Olympia in West London through the rain to EXCEL in East London?