Buildnz designex looking to expand

Buildnz designex looking to expand

Buildnz designex has run successfully every two year cycle for over two decades. With the huge success garnered at this year’s show the organisers are now looking to expand the frequency and the location.

The country’s most respected building, construction, design and related industries trade event has been called an amazing success by both visitors and exhibitors. More than 5000 building professionals and construction industry innovators came together over three days, taking advantage of the many leading experts available at both professional development seminars, and on the stands of many of the biggest industry supplier names from across New Zealand and overseas.

“220 exhibitor stands were busy from start to finish.” says XPO Managing Director, Brent Spillane. “There was a genuine positive energy from the strong trade attendance keen to research new product and services. This was supported by the engagement of leading industry organisations such as the Registered Master Builders Federation, Certified Builders Association, BRANZ, the NZ Institute of Architects, Architectural Designers NZ, NZ Green Building Council and Lifemark.”

Education was again pivotal at this national trade event. “Industry education is no longer a bolt on feature at this event, it’s an integral component of the event planning. This year we hosted for two full days more than 450 registered architects at the NZIA CPD Days within the floor plan of buildnz designex”

“The initiative was viewed as an opportunity to create better dialogue between the architecture, build and construction industries regarding the major challenge ahead with housing density. This year’s NZIA CPD Days was titled Little Boxes? The Shape of Affordability in the Modern City and brought together leading Architects from New Zealand and Australia with strong track records in the fields of lower-cost and medium-density housing. Other speakers included Minister of Housing Nick Smith, Labour’s housing spokesperson Phil Twyford, and Auckland deputy mayor Penny Hulse who debated central and local government challenges and planning with housing density.”

Brent says that feedback from NZIA delegates has been very positive. “They thoroughly enjoyed the seminars and better yet enjoyed the opportunity to network and learn about new product and services at a large scale exhibition outside of the seminars. Likewise we’ve had some exhibitors at our show overwhelmed by interest and project work firmed up with architects. buildnz designex 2013 has been a great success and we’re now talking with the NZIA about future opportunities to partner across our events.

“In addition to the NZIA CPD Days, we also had seminars from the CEO’s of both the Registered Master Builders Federation and the Certified Builders Association of NZ. Ree Anderson from the Planning Office of Auckland Council talked about the Unitary Plan, and the Registered Master Builders Federation had two days of other feature speakers. The event addressed many facets of challenges facing the wider industry.”

Seminars aside, the exhibitors were run off their feet with a steady 5000 trade visitors keen to view their products and services.

New Zealand Steel Marketing Manager Chris Kay says a highlight was having great discussions with builders and many others every day of the event. “We also had good engagement from the training and education sector looking to increase their knowledge of steel framing. buildnz designex is a great opportunity to network and also to see some new products that compliment AXXIS® steel for framing which we were promoting on the NASH stand.”

Chris says that New Zealand Steel got great feedback from visitors, and noted a few emerging trends too. “In the past we’ve exhibited to raise awareness of the benefits of building with steel framing. At buildnz designex 2013 we decided to focus more on providing technical information and trade video tips. This was really well received and helped demonstrate just how easy steel framing is to work with. We noticed a lot of optimism on the back of building consent growth, and more visitors are starting to challenge traditional building methods, whether it be through the use of new products and systems or modular and offsite building methods. I think that partly stems from the focus on productivity levels and house affordability”

New Zealand Steel was so impressed with buildnz designex 2013 that it’s already booked in for 2015. “Sure, there are other marketing channels to promote products and services; however, buildnz designex provides a valuable opportunity for face to face dialogue and to gain direct feedback on the products and services you offer. For visitors, it provides the chance to catch up with all the major building product suppliers and to attend a wide range of seminars. For a few visitors it’s a day out but if you’re short of time and not sure whether to attend, then I recommend writing down three things you’d like to get out of the show to help your business and go with those objectives in mind – it’s free to attend after all.

“In the case of industry suppliers who are still wavering about whether to take a stand in 2015, let me just say that while a picture paints a thousand words, nothing beats demonstrating your products live.”

Dave Speedy of Gibson Veneer & Plywood (GVP) agrees. “Key products we were presenting were very well received, and feedback from our customers about our attendance was very positive: ‘great to see you here and to see what’s new for GVP’ was the comment constantly made. We had a regular and steady flow of visitors to the stand, and because we took care to select a good range of interesting products for the show we had visitors from each of the visitor groups, joiners, builders, architects and designers.

“Our new LITEwood product and our new Bamboo products generated a lot of interest. Feedback from stand visitors was very encouraging, and almost everyone was positive about growth in the sector and their business confidence moving forward. It was great to be part of an event that supports the industry, and we have already expressed an interest in attending next time as we want to build on the momentum of our first exhibition.”

Bowers Brothers Concrete also had a great buildnz designex 2013 says Simon Meredith. “This was the first time we have exhibited, so it was great to be part of such a positive event and to get such a positive response to our stand. As we are relatively new to the Auckland market it was very positive getting our brand out to the market place. We generated a large number of good leads, and we’re full speed following up. In just the first week after buildnz designex sales were good. I think the building market is looking very positive.

“We received excellent feedback from the visitors we spoke to over all of the three days, and we’ve already decided we’ll be back in 2015 because it gets us directly to our target market. I highly recommend attending for visitors as it was very informative, and for suppliers it’s an excellent way to generate leads.”

“The positive momentum and pipeline of work for the industry was clearly evident at the event, and I’m sure our final result surveys will support this. Whilst we don’t have our official audited visitor report back yet we can say we printed more than 5300 unique visitor badges. The results we do have indicate that 57% of attendees say their business is growing, 59% say their industry is growing and 68% say they expect the New Zealand economy to improve over the next 12 months. 71% of our visitors hold direct authority or influence for purchasing the types of goods or services seen at buildnz designex, and 78% saw something they are likely to buy after the exhibition. Those stats are compelling for leading brands to consider exhibiting at our show.”

“So much so that we’ve had a wave of support to host an interim year event in Christchurch next year. So far our survey results have stated 88% of exhibitors would either ‘definitely’ or ‘would consider’ exhibiting at a Christchurch 2014 event. We’re also in dialogue with industry groups to host a major conference attendance in the garden city too, so watch this space!”

buildnz designex 2013 was held 23 to 25 June at Auckland's ASB Showgrounds in Greenlane.

ENDS

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