EXPO’S THREE DAYS HELPED THE FUTURE HAPPEN NOW

[ FUTUREBUILD, the event dedicated to building a better future for the built environment, took place over three days on 7-9 March. Trailblazers from across the entire built environment came together to ‘Take a Stand’ through innovation, knowledge-sharing and networking.

Across the three days Futurebuild hosted over 17,800 visitors who joined forces in creating a more sustainable future. They heard 500 speakers at 135 sessions and visited 400 exhibitors. With sustainability a more relevant topic than ever, Futurebuild's expansive exhibition was specially curated to drive change across the entire supply chain through showcasing the best in innovative bioproducts and sustainable solutions throughout the whole event.

In addition to celebrating innovation in sustainable products, Futurebuild wanted to offer solutions which create a quantifiable, positive impact on the environment. As many products claim to be sustainable, Futurebuild placed an emphasis on providing accurate factual reporting about the green credentials of its offerings.

One of Futurebuild’s speakers was architect and environmental researcher Dr Tom Woolley, author of Natural Building Materials, Health and Indoor Air Quality and chair of the UK Clean Air Steering Committee. He observed: “There were enough really green stands there to make it worthwhile and not too much greenwashing!”

The exhibition showcased groundbreaking feature builds, including the truly innovative ZEDPower Micro Home. The Micro Home is a flatpack, self-build and zero-bills eco-home that requires nothing more than a rubber mallet and a drill to assemble.

Bill Dunster OBE, founder of ZEDfactory, remarked on the value Futurebuild offers: “Futurebuild is the best possible platform to launch a big idea – and has a value to society way beyond any conventional trade show.”

Additionally, Duncan Baker-Brown –architect, academic and environmental activist – remarked: “I thought that the show was different to recently, inasmuch as there were lots of climate and carbon-aware products and companies supporting the normal excellent array of debates.”

Macro debates take centre stage

Across the three days Futurebuild’s renowned seminar programme covered key themes delivered by industry partners from a wide range of disciplines who are passionate about instigating change. Likewise, Futurebuild’s conference put the industry's most pressing problems at the forefront of the sustainability conversation, helping to spark debate and formulate solutions to problems.

Futurebuild’s organisers were overwhelmed by the turnout; those attending displayed a genuine enthusiasm and actively participated in the question-and-answer sessions, leading to some great debates. Throughout the three-day event, seminars proved so popular that many sessions had standing room only.

On the main Conference Arena, each day began with a rousing keynote address from an expert industry speaker to help define the theme of the day. Sarwjit Sambhit, chief executive officer of St Modwen, kicked of Day One's theme of Looking Forward. Sarwjit discussed the importance of technological innovation in engineering and the wider built environment industry, remarking how every business in the sector has the opportunity to make a difference going forward.

After the first day set the scene for an optimistic outlook for the built environment industry, Day Two focused on how professionals can drive ‘change’ in the sector. It opened with an eye-opening keynote address by Pascal Smet, Secretary of State for the Brussels Capital Region, who discussed circular construction and its positive impacts. Brussels is considered to be Europe's laboratory for sustainable construction and the Belgian capital is making circularity the new normal. Pascal discussed how Brussels is future-proofing construction and looked at how this could set the stage for international construction standards.

After outlining ideas for change, Day Three focused on Taking Action. Trudy Harrison MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, gave the Ministerial keynote address, stating that the time is now to make change.

Commenting on the event, Trudy said: “Futurebuild really focuses on sustainability, innovation and bringing people together. It’s absolutely critical.”

Staying true to its roots, sustainability and innovation ran through every aspect of the show and saw the team at Futurebuild launch its Walk the Talk campaign that led to a significant reduction in the event’s carbon footprint. Removing the aisle carpet alone – just one of the changes – reduced the event’s carbon emissions by 27,707kg. Over the next 12 months the team will assess what impact the changes had and what more changes can be made to drive even further reductions in 2024.

Stay tuned for more

Futurebuild 2023 ended the same way it began, with an optimistic outlook for the future of the built environment. Visitors left with renewed excitement and new knowledge of sustainable solutions and innovations in the sector. Although the annual live event is over, Futurebuild works on providing content all year round. To relive the event, the full programme will be available in the coming weeks.

Martin Hurn, event director of Futurebuild, said in his closing remarks: “Futurebuild 2023 has come to an end and what an amazing three days we have had! Today’s theme was action, and there's been a huge amount of action from the built environment to driving sustainability and innovation. A massive thank you to all of our sponsors, our hundreds of speakers and thousands of visitors that have come to the event. We appreciate all of our exhibitors and visitors getting involved with the Take a Stand campaign and we can't wait to discuss this more in the coming months.”

Next year’s event will take place on 5-7 March 2024. q