The forward thinking back story of Futurebuild

Its been now nearly three weeks since Futurebuild 2023, the dust has long settled and been swept away from the carpet free exhibition. Details, contacts, social media links, follow-ups, feedback and learning have been shared from an event which in many ways represents the shifts in an industry trying hard to keep up with the net zero targets, goals and low impact aspirations.

It also in many ways is an example of a new breed of an exhibition from another industry impacted by Covid, where the event itself, although still key, just one element of a yearly cycle of a programme of events, webinars and knowledge sharing online. A programme organised by invited curators, practioners and leaders from across the industry keen to share, learn and improve rather than merely crudely sell products and services (though that is still clearly part of the process).

Futurebuild itself, by name started in 2019 but was in the rebranding of an exhibtion event by the name of Ecobuild which had started a number of years before in 2005. This gives the event well over a decade and nearly two of plugging the same increasingly important message surrounidng the impacts of the construction industry and the need for change.

In 2005 it was in many ways a niche event, with around 6,000 visitors interested in green buildings, this rapidly grew with up to 55,000 in 2011. The show was then bought by UBM for a said £51 million, to only then to be sold again in 2017 for what was said to be a nominal sum following a serious decline in the market, UBM lost a significant amount in goodwill. By 2019 visiting figures where up agian and just shy of 30,000, just prior to the impact of Covd measures on all industries. Now in 2023 the event reported figures just below 20,000 including exhibitors, speakers and curators, so it still can draw a crowd.