The UK’s largest event for the built environment, UK Construction Week (UKCW) Birmingham, made a welcome return to the NEC last week, with attendance up 8% year on year, attracting 24,377 visitors to the three-day show.

Opened by Channel 4 presenter George Clarke, UKCW Birmingham attracted visitors and exhibitors from across the globe, including China, Czech Republic, India, Latvia and Turkey.

The multi award-winning show featured over 6,000 products and services, and over 150 CPD hours during sessions led by 400 thought leaders and keynote speakers.

This year’s high-profile speakers and seminar agenda featured industry leaders including Ian Courts, Leader of Solihull Borough Council and Lead Member of Business and the Economy for Solihull, and Marsha Ramroop, Executive Director - Equity, Diversity & Inclusion - Building People. Topics discussed included culture change, sustainability, mental health and HS2.

Across a range of dedicated sectors, visitors were able to discover the latest innovations and technologies in robotics, digital construction, Net Zero, offsite construction and infrastructure. Alongside UKCW Birmingham, the co-located event Timber Expo, the UK’s largest showcase event for wood and timber in construction, brought together award-winning architects, clients and contractors to show all that timber has to offer.

Barbara Akinkunmi, founder of Girls Under Construction, was named UKCW Role Model 2023; as a young black woman in construction, Barbara strives to be a visible leader who actively helps other young women to navigate their career journeys in the construction industry. 

The winning exhibitors of this year’s Stand Awards included: Sustainability Initiative - Munro EV; Best Shell Scheme Stand - KBI; Most Interactive Stand - Easy Trim; Construction Start-Up of the Year - Cavity Tray Cleaner; Best Marketing Campaign - NEBOSH; Best Space Only - Biffa.

Jamie Govier, Managing Director, Easy Trim commented: “Absolutely outstanding. We’ve exhibited at UK Construction Week since it began, and this is the best footfall I’ve seen in five years. It’s a credit to the organisers.”

Fiona Macdonald, Impact Manager, BE-ST, said: “We attended Birmingham with The National Robotarium to demonstrate to the wider construction industry the benefits of robotics and AI; we chose UKCW because of its scale, and its reputation to attract people who have a curiosity about what the future might look like.”

Nick Morris, Commercial Business Development Manager, Fischer Future Heat UK, added: “It’s been a really good show and we’ve had some great leads that could turn into major contracts for us, including some university and larger council projects. It’s our first UKCW and we’ve been happy with the amount of enquiries so far, so we’d absolutely come back again.”

Sam Patel, UKCW incoming event director, commented after the show: “It’s been another fantastic year for us here in Birmingham. With so much going on within the industry at the moment, it’s great that we can offer the opportunity for visitors of the show to get ahead of the game and we feel privileged that our visitors see the show as the place to do that.”

Dates for next year’s two shows have already been announced: UKCW London will take place from 7-9 May 2024 at ExCeL; UKCW Birmingham will run from 1-3 October 2024 at the NEC.