Mick George has opened a concrete batching plant in Great Billing, Northamptonshire. Above: Mick George sponsors Northampton Town Football Club so got a couple of the players along to visit the new facility The plant is the company’s eighth batching plant, extending its concrete supply beyond the Cambridge, Peterborough, Leicester
The water sector has urged MPs to support a “vital” new clause added to the Housing and Planning Bill by the House of Lords, which would ensure flood prevention measures are put in place at new housing developments. Amendment 110 – which would remove the automatic right
Boosted by a greater share of sales to first time buyers not seen in nearly four years, existing home sales in the United States maintained their upward trend in June and increased for the fourth month in a row. Only the Northeast of the nation saw a decline in sales
©AFP LafargeHolcim, the Franco-Swiss cement group created by a €41bn merger last year, is stepping up its post-deal disposal programme with planned asset sales in an another nine countries. Eric Olsen, chief executive, has been under pressure from some investors to boost the group’s performance, which has been hit by
Tansun, the infrared heating manufacturer and expert, has pioneered infrared heaters capable of completely heating an outdoor area, encouraging diners to eat outside all year round. This range is designed to enable outdoor areas to become an extension of an indoor area and consequently provides extra revenue for the bar
The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) have stated that the Chancellor of the exchequer is right to make the Apprenticeship Levy more flexible, in a bid to ensure it works for strategic industries such as the construction sector. That being said, they aren’t convinced his reforms have gone far enough.
The Momentum Group, a leading UK Tax Credit Advisory firm, based in Northern Ireland, has welcomed newly published statistics from HMRC that show the UK construction industry claimed a total of £80m in R&D Tax Credits. Focused solely on R&D Tax Credits, the company works across most sectors of industry
The UK’s digital revolution in energy markets will lead to significant and additional demand for physical services, according to Jon Parr, Managing Director of Lowri Beck, one of the country’s largest independent meter installers and data collection specialists. He predicts that digitalisation will quicken product innovation for energy technology, such
Interserve, the international support services and construction group, has delivered the UK’s first NHS high-energy Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) Centre in the North West in collaboration with their supply chain partners Mace, Arup & HKS on time and under budget. The state of the art technology uses an advanced form
The Messe Frankfurt Ltd and the Hong Kong Trade Development, have collaborated to co-organise the Environment Bureau of the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. This stands as the 13th Eco Expo Asia show to be held in Hong Kong, which takes place between the 25th and 28th of
BDC 319 : Aug 2024
Mick George has opened a concrete batching plant in Great Billing, Northamptonshire. Above: Mick George sponsors Northampton Town Football Club so got a couple of the players along to visit the new facility The plant is the company’s eighth batching plant, extending its concrete supply beyond the Cambridge, Peterborough, Leicester boundaries. Mick George had previously been providing volumetric mixed concrete in the Northamptonshire area, temporarily, but the new facility allows for barrel mixed operations, producing an average of 60m³ of concrete per hour. Garry Woodcock, concrete operations manager at Mick George said: “Commercially we have gained a lot of interest in and around Northamptonshire for our products. The site was originally home to state-of-the-art recycling technology as part of our waste management service, so the facility seemed the perfect location to increase our concrete offering, providing trade and residential customers with what they want.” This article was published on 13 Oct 2016 (last updated on 13 Oct 2016). Source link
The water sector has urged MPs to support a “vital” new clause added to the Housing and Planning Bill by the House of Lords, which would ensure flood prevention measures are put in place at new housing developments. Amendment 110 – which would remove the automatic right to connect surface water to the public sewer system – is due to be discussed in the House of Commons on Tuesday 3 May. Representative body Water UK said it will ensure that the use of sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) are considered in relation to all new developments regardless of scale, as developers would not have the “simple alternative” of disposing of surface water via the sewer system. Currently, developers are encouraged through the planning system to install SuDS on new developments. But they retain the legal power to demand a connection to the sewer system to handle water runoff from new homes. There is therefore no effective sanction where sustainable techniques are not implemented. The amendment was put forward by Baroness Parminter during report stage in the Lords earlier this week, with support from across the House, and was accepted by a large majority. Last winter thousands of people’s homes were ruined from floods, and there are more than five million homes at risk from flooding. SuDS are a range of schemes developers can put in place around new homes to better manage the water from heavy rainfall and prevent flooding. They also help prevent sewers from flooding people’s homes. Water UK said the new clause would ensure that practice in England is brought in line with current practice in the rest of the UK, which have more extensive SuDS standards or requirements. Source link
Boosted by a greater share of sales to first time buyers not seen in nearly four years, existing home sales in the United States maintained their upward trend in June and increased for the fourth month in a row. Only the Northeast of the nation saw a decline in sales in June and sales to investors fell to their lowest overall share since July 2009, according to the latest monthly index from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Existing home sales were up 1.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million in June from a downwardly revised 5.51 million in May. After last month’s gain, sales are now up 3% from June 2015 and remain at their highest annual pace since February 2007. According to Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, the four month streak of sales gains through June caps off a solid first half of 2016 for the housing market. ‘Existing sales rose again last month as more traditional buyers and fewer investors were able to close on a home despite many competitive areas with unrelenting supply and demand imbalances,’ he said. ‘Sustained job growth as well as this year’s descent in mortgage rates is undoubtedly driving the appetite for home purchases but looking ahead, it’s unclear if this current sales pace can further accelerate as record high stock prices, near record low mortgage rates and solid job gains face off against a dearth of homes available for sale and lofty home prices that keep advancing,’ he pointed out. The index data also shows that median existing home prices for all housing types in June was $247,700, up 4.8% year on year and it means that prices have now increased for 52 months in a row and surpass May’s peak median sales price of $238,900. Total housing inventory at the end of June dipped 0.9% to 2.12 million existing homes available for sale and is now 5.8% lower than a year ago while unsold inventory is at a 4.6 month supply at the current sales pace, which is down from 4.7 months in May. The share of first time buyers was 33% in June, up from 30% in May and a year ago and is the highest since July 2012 when it was 34%. Through the first six months of the year, first time buyers have represented an average of 31% of buyers compared to 30% in all of 2015. ‘The modest bump in June sales to first time buyers can be attributed to mortgage rates near all-time lows and perhaps a hopeful indication that more affordable, lower priced homes are beginning to make their way onto the market,’ said Yun. ‘The odds of closing on a home are definitely higher right now for first time buyers living in metro areas with tamer price growth and greater entry level supply, particularly areas in the Midwest and parts of the South,’ he added. The data also shows that all cash sales were 22% of transactions in June, unchanged from both May and a year ago. Individual investors, who account for many cash sales, purchased 11% of homes in June, the lowest since July 2009, down from 13% in May and 12% a year ago. Some 64% of investors paid cash in June. According to NAR president Tom Salomone, it is good news for estate agents that the US Senate voted last week to pass H.R. 3700, the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act. ‘At a time of historically low mortgage rates, this is a huge win for prospective first time and low to moderate income buyers interested in purchasing a condo. Eliminating overly burdensome restrictions on condos will help more of these prospective buyers access financing and take advantage of this affordable entry point into home ownership,’ he said. The NAR report shows that properties typically stayed on the market for 34 days in June, an increase from 32 days in May but unchanged from a year ago. Short sales were on the market the longest at a median of 156 days in June, while foreclosures sold in 49 days and non-distressed homes took 30 days. Some 48% of homes sold in June were on the market for less than a month. Distressed sales, that is foreclosures and short sales, amounted to 6% of sales in June, unchanged from May and down from 8% a year ago. Some 4% of June sales were foreclosures, the lowest since NAR began tracking in October 2008, and 2% were short sales. Foreclosures sold for an average discount of 11% below market value in June, down from 12% in May, while short sales were discounted 18%, up from 11% in May. A breakdown of the figures shows that single family home sales increased 0.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.92 million in June from 4.88 million in May, and are now 3.1% higher than the 4.77 million pace a year ago. The median existing single family home price was $249,800 in June, up 5% from June 2015. Existing condominium and co-op sales grew 3.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 650,000 units in June from 630,000 in May, and are now 1.6% above June 2015. The median existing condo price was $231,600 in June, some 3.2% above a year ago. On a regional basis June existing home sales in the Northeast were down by 1.3% to an annual rate of 760,000, but are still 5.6% above a year ago. The median price in the Northeast was $284,800, which is 1.4% above June 2015. In the Midwest, existing home sales were up 3.8% to an annual rate of 1.35 million in June, and are now 4.7% above June 2015. The median price in the Midwest was $199,900, up 5.7% from a year ago. Existing home sales in the South in June remained unchanged from May at an annual rate of 2.26 million, and are 3.2% above June 2015. The median price in the South was $217,400, up 5.5% from a
©AFP LafargeHolcim, the Franco-Swiss cement group created by a €41bn merger last year, is stepping up its post-deal disposal programme with planned asset sales in an another nine countries. Eric Olsen, chief executive, has been under pressure from some investors to boost the group’s performance, which has been hit by severe global pricing pressures and weak economic growth in key markets. More On this topic IN Construction Shareholders had been promised SFr3.5bn ($3.6bn) of disposals this year. But the company now says a portfolio review has identified a further nine countries “where we will seek opportunities to divest if we can achieve favourable valuations”. LafargeHolcim said it was confident of delivering this year’s target “and expects further divestments to crystallise beyond 2016.” Shareholder scepticism about the benefits of last year’s tie-up between France’s Lafarge and Switzerland’s Holcim — which succeed only after a series of internal power struggles — has weighed on the group’s shares, which are almost 40 per cent lower than a year ago. With a global capacity glut in the cement industry, Mr Olsen believes LafargeHolcim significantly over-invested in the past and is shifting the combined company’s business model towards lower capital spending and stronger cash flow generation. Asset sales will help LafargeHolcim reduce net debt but analysts have warned that a rush to push through disposals would lead to lower sale prices. “I don’t see how this process will create value — but that is the story of this merger so far,” said Phil Roseberg at Bernstein. “It is a very complex integration. You had two similar sized companies with two different cultures and now they want to create a third culture.” So far this year, the Zürich-headquartered company has already secured a third of its SFr3.5bn disposal target, through divestments in South Korea and Saudi Arabia and a merging of operations in Morocco. Competition authorities have required additional asset sales in India. LafargeHolcim, which operates in about 90 countries, has not set out where the next round of disposals will occur but it is expected to quit operations in most of the chosen locations completely. However, one country where LafargeHolcim is investing for longer-term growth is Brazil, despite the country’s economic downturn hitting its results in recent quarters. Last month, the group opened a SFr570m plant in Barroso, south-eastern Brazil, which has the capacity to produce 3.6m tonnes of cement per year. It first took the investment decision in 2011. Although it does not expect an early turnround in Brazil’s economic prospects, the company believes the new plant will cut production costs. It recently helped in the construction of the Olympic Village for this year’s Rio de Janeiro games. For the first quarter, LafargeHolcim reported a larger than expected 21.5 per cent annual fall in adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, to SFr824m. But the group argued that the construction industry in North America and Europe was often hit by bad weather in the early months of the year, meaning the quarterly results were “not indicative” of expected full-year performance. Mr Olsen said then that he expected to see “momentum building through the year”. He has forecast “at least a high single-digit” like-for-like increase in adjusted operating ebitda in the group’s full-year results. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. Source link
Tansun, the infrared heating manufacturer and expert, has pioneered infrared heaters capable of completely heating an outdoor area, encouraging diners to eat outside all year round. This range is designed to enable outdoor areas to become an extension of an indoor area and consequently provides extra revenue for the bar or restaurant. When an outdoor area is equipped with adequate heat coverage, customers prefer to sit outdoors, found Tansun. However, more than 90% of outside areas are not being heated effectively, resulting in areas now only being unused, but also a wasted investment for bars and restaurants. The Merchant House or the ‘Museum Brasserie’ in Jersey installed Tansun’s Sorrento heaters on its terrace to create a better and more profitable outdoor dining experience. Installing a more effective heating solution resulted in the restaurant receiving more bookings and seeing a noticeable increase in its sales. “With a large outside space and with British weather being as it is, it was clear to us that adequate heating was crucial to our business model. While they added a certain ambiance with the flames, the gas heaters we were using were ineffective, unreliable, expensive to run and bad for the environment. Having looked across the market at both local and international suppliers, the sleek look, anti-glare properties, range of products from Tansun and the reasonable prices seemed like the obvious option for us,” said Alex Dolan, Business Development Manager, Dolan Hotels Jersey. “We saw Tansun at the Restaurant Technology and Restaurant Design Expo in ExCel London, liked their products and chose to install six Sorrento heaters. We are so pleased that we will definitely be choosing them when we eventually refurbish our other restaurants. Our clients regularly comment on how they like the new found warmth of our terrace and this can be seen in the sales. As a matter of fact I posted a picture on Facebook and got a call for a table of eight under the heaters five minutes later,” Alex added. Tansun’s range includes a selection of energy-saving switches and heater controls designed to suit almost any situation or need. All of its products are made in the UK and are designed using premium components. The company has been established for 35 years and pioneered the concept of infrared electric heaters alongside Philips technology.
The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) have stated that the Chancellor of the exchequer is right to make the Apprenticeship Levy more flexible, in a bid to ensure it works for strategic industries such as the construction sector. That being said, they aren’t convinced his reforms have gone far enough. “The Chancellor has, in part, listened to the concerns of businesses by making the Apprenticeship Levy more flexible. However, he needs to go much further,” said Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, and former Head of Uk Public Policy for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) as a response to the Chancellor’s speech at the Conservative Party Conference. As it stands 10% of Levy vouchers can currently be passed down through the supply chain from larger firms to smaller ones, but now Chancellor Philip Hammond, has stated that figure should instead be 25%. “This is important, in construction its the small firms that do the bulk of the training while the large firms don’t tend to directly employ or train tradespeople. Since the Apprenticeship Levy was introduced last year, apprenticeships stats have fallen in the construction trades by more than 10%,” added Brian Berry. Given that the construction industry is already suffering from an acute shortage of skills, Brian Berry called this, “very worrying indeed.” He went on to say: “If the Chancellor is serious about ensuing the Levy has the desired effect, and increases meaningful training across all sectors, it should go further and make 100% of the vouchers transferable from large to small companies.” The FMB is non-profit making and independent, it works as a lobbying for members’ interests at both a local and national level. It stands as a source of knowledge, support and advice for members, while offering a range of modern and innovative building services to help members succeed and achieve. Committed to continuously keeping quality high and forever raising the bar on standards, they even offer a free service to consumers titled: “Find a builder.” Operating by constantly lobbying the Government to boost output and raise standards of both safety and professionalism in conduct at all levels, the FMB strive for a fair, safe and well structured construction sector at all times. The FMB is the largest trade association in the United Kingdom construction industry, and represents thousand of firms across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Established in 1941, the aim of the FMB is to protect the interest of both medium and small sized construction firms.
The Momentum Group, a leading UK Tax Credit Advisory firm, based in Northern Ireland, has welcomed newly published statistics from HMRC that show the UK construction industry claimed a total of £80m in R&D Tax Credits. Focused solely on R&D Tax Credits, the company works across most sectors of industry with expertise gained in the last decade working with over 500 companies throughout the UK. The latest annual statistics from HMRC show there has been a slight decrease in companies from all regions of the UK claiming R&D Tax Credits, which are designed to drive innovation. Across the UK, London had the most claims with Northern Ireland businesses still significantly behind other regions. The construction industry accounted for only 3% of all claims submitted, highlighting that the industry hasn’t tapped into the potential of the initiative. The average received per R&D tax claim by construction companies was £58,000. This is slightly lower than the £85,000 average overall payment per claim across the industries surveyed. Tom Verner, Group Managing Director, Momentum R&D commented: “While HMRC statistics show many industries in the UK are wakening up to the benefits of R&D Tax Credits, the potential is far greater. In our experience, there are still so many construction businesses that are either not aware of R&D Tax Credits, incorrectly think they do not qualify or feel they lack the necessary experience to submit a claim. In fact, many companies are not claiming their full legitimate entitlement. “At Momentum, we helped a record number of companies with R&D Tax Credit claims in 2017. These are often highly innovative companies, who can reinvest these savings into technological innovation that bolsters their businesses, exports, employment and the local economy in the wake of Brexit.” Momentum is calling on more construction businesses to act now on R&D Tax Credits, highlighting that the regional statistics could be much higher given the increasing investment in export here, with Verner adding: “It is vital that the construction industry recognises the potential of this very accessible UK government incentive. While seeking in-depth advice is vital, with an increasing number of accountancy practices availing of our R&D expertise, we assist businesses every day that have benefitted from tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of pounds. Given the potential, we find it startling that more companies aren’t claiming, and we have made it our mission to highlight the incentive particularly on occasions like today when regional results show improvement from companies to claim their optimum benefit.” Momentum has helped hundreds of highly competitive companies, from manufacturing to construction, food & drink to technology, to claim this UK government incentive. The multi award-winning company assists in a range of areas, investing in understanding and optimising R&D expenditure. The team includes accountancy, business, commercial and ex-HMRC technical experts to ensure every claim gets the necessary expert scrutiny and is thoroughly investigated. Founded in 2009, Momentum is one of the longest established R&D advisory companies in the UK. It is also the only R&D tax practice that focuses on providing advice on long-term R&D strategies, offering a complimentary annual review to its client enabling them to assess current and forward-plan future research and development projects. Ron Gibson, Momentum’s Operations and Technical Director, who sits on HMRC’s R&D Consultative Committee, added: “In an unregulated area, involving often complex financial review, we find increasingly that owners, managing directors, financial controllers and their accountants are turning to the experts to navigate through this intricate R&D tax area.” Momentum works with an increasing number of accountancy practices, business and financial consultants across the UK who partner with the specialist tax credit advisory firm to enhance their service to clients, reduce workload and grow their businesses. For more information on Momentum visit www.momentumgroupni.com
The UK’s digital revolution in energy markets will lead to significant and additional demand for physical services, according to Jon Parr, Managing Director of Lowri Beck, one of the country’s largest independent meter installers and data collection specialists. He predicts that digitalisation will quicken product innovation for energy technology, such as smart meters, and lead to new opportunities for physical services providers. Lowri Beck currently installs and exchanges around 500,000 domestic meters annually, collects data from another 5million for Big 6 and Tier 2 suppliers, and is heavily involved in the nationwide smart meter roll-out. “Some might question the value of physical services in an increasingly digital era, but I believe that digitalisation will actually increase demand way beyond the current smart meter programme,” says Jon Parr, who is leading a strategy for growth focused on the next 20 years. “Energy suppliers, in common with every area of business, are investing heavily in the digital systems that will drive operational efficiency and enhanced customer engagement, but digital will also accelerate innovation in product development – as with smart meters – and in emerging markets, such as EV charging and home energy storage. In 10 years’ time, meters could be 100 times more sophisticated than they are today, working in real time to the minute, and at the same time facilitating load switching. “All these developments require skilled installation and maintenance people, and when you add in regulation such as the incoming 24/7 commitment to restore power when vulnerable households go off-supply, demand for accredited technical support from providers such as Lowri Beck is set to increase significantly.” Based in Wigan, with additional offices in London, East Kilbride, Wrexham, Dunstable and a dedicated training centre in Ashton-in-Makerfield, Lowri Beck was formed by Bob Vernon over 20 years ago and today employs 2,000 people across Britain. Jon Parr, who joined Lowri Beck in October last year, believes that the fast evolving mix of conventional and renewable power generation, and innovations in areas such as home power generation and battery storage, will inevitably lead to technology churn and create new infrastructure requirements. “Take the electric vehicle market, for example, which will grow rapidly in the years to come, driven in part by environmental concerns but also by the much-heralded government ambition to phase out of conventional combustion engine vehicles by 2040. “Not only will EV demand more power capacity, charging technology and payment systems, it will need network infrastructure. Lots of people talk about software and data management but at the end of the day, it still needs screwdrivers, cable clips, skilled resources and capacity to make it happen. “At Lowri Beck, we have over 1,000 flexible, trained and accredited engineers and technical people operating in the field every day, providing vital technical support and management services. It’s our USP and it will be even more relevant in the future.” www.lowribeck.co.uk
Interserve, the international support services and construction group, has delivered the UK’s first NHS high-energy Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) Centre in the North West in collaboration with their supply chain partners Mace, Arup & HKS on time and under budget. The state of the art technology uses an advanced form of radiotherapy for the treatment of complex and hard-to-treat cancers in children and adults. The Christie, who worked in partnership with Interserve, was selected by the Department of Health as one of two providers of the service, together with University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Although procured at the same time, The Christie chose to deliver the construction phase through the Procure 21 framework. This speed to site procurement route means that from 2018, patients will benefit from local access to this advanced treatment at The Christie. The state of the art 15,000 m2 five storey building will provide: 4 treatment rooms; a patient reception; consultation rooms and public space. The building is designed to be future proof with additional space for the Trust to grow into. The building will begin treating patients in the autumn and, once fully operational, will treat around 750 people a year. This life-changing facility will not only save lives, but also prevent families from enduring expensive and stressful travel abroad for treatment. PBT uses a high-energy beam of protons rather than high-energy X-rays to deliver a dose of radiotherapy. It directs the radiation treatment to precisely where it is needed with minimal damage to surrounding tissue. As this unique project was the first being built in the UK, Interserve had no blueprint to follow so they travelled extensively around the globe to bring the benefit of international expertise and learning to the UK, overcoming many challenges to deliver this world class facility and become experts in delivering this type of facility. The building’s list of technical features is almost as extraordinary as proton beam treatment itself: To contain the radiation, the concrete walls are up to six metres thick. The building incorporates 20,000m³ of concrete & 1,700 tonnes of reinforcement, including steel bars up to 100mm diameter. Through this, 10km of services pipework has been carefully threaded. The concrete itself weighs 48,000 tonnes, the equivalent of two aircraft carriers. To meet the building’s demanding energy needs, a new sub-station has been built, which provides an equivalent amount of power to that needed to run the nearby Trafford Industrial Park. The building is the first PBT Centre to target BREEAM excellent. Reclaiming heat from the Proton Beam equipment will make a significant contribution to the BREEAM scoring. Jason Dawson, Director of Capital, Estates and Facilities of The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are delighted to be able to offer this life changing treatment to patients. The delivery of this facility has been one of the most complex and precise projects within the NHS. “We identified very early in the project that we needed a construction partner that could work alongside our team. The partnership approach integrated with Interserve’s technical expertise and energy to solve problems is one of the key reasons we completed on time. George Franks, Managing Director of Interserve Construction said: “We are proud to have delivered this life-changing facility which built on our long-term relationship with The Christie with whom we have been construction partners for more than 10 years. The Interserve team’s knowledge, experience, innovation and expertise as well as the extensive field research undertaken at the start of the project has contributed to delivery on time and on budget. The completion of this project is another substantial milestone in our long-term relationship with The Christie and one that we hope continues long in to the future with many more successes along the way.”
The Messe Frankfurt Ltd and the Hong Kong Trade Development, have collaborated to co-organise the Environment Bureau of the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. This stands as the 13th Eco Expo Asia show to be held in Hong Kong, which takes place between the 25th and 28th of October. Showcasing 330 exhibitors from 19 countries and regions across this globe, with around 14,000 expected visitors. Messe Frankfurt create innovative network platforms and organise some 150 trade fairs annually, both in Frankfurt and at various other locations around the world, it stands as the largest trade fair on the planet. The Hong Kong Trade Development is a statutory body, dedicated to creating opportunities for Hong Kong businesses. With a mission to connect companies to business partners across the globe, the collaboration stands as one of excitement. The Eco Expo Asia event is an environmental trade platform that welcomes various industries to showcase their environmental products and solutions. This year the Eco Expo Asia will debut the: Smart Construction for Quite pavilion, which aims to discuss green building products and solutions for noise-related construction issues, a key concern for many rapidly developing cities and regions within Asia. Amongst the highlights of the showcased products and innovations, will be two sets of hybrid construction excavators from renowned Japanese manufacturer, KOBELCO. These excavators produce low carbon emissions, very little noise and offer a demonstration that a more environmentally friendly solution for the construction industry, and other businesses beyond that, is possible. Every year Eco Expo Asia welcomes overseas pavilions and large amounts of group participation, and 2018 will see the largest Chinese Pavilion to date. With the debut of exhibitors from Hunan and Inner Mongolia, as well as from a number of cities in the Greater Bay Area. Returning Pavilions to the event include participants from Austria, Europe, Canada, State of Bavaria, Korea, Japan and Switzerland. The event allows for buyers and attendees to become aware of what market intelligence is available in exploring green products, for a more environmentally secure future. Mr Urs Heutschi, CEO of Swissenviro, commented on the return of the Switzerland Pavilion: “Eco Expo Asia is a well-organised international trade fair in an important environmental market, covering relevant and current environmental issues with a strong focus on sustainability. As the organiser of the Swiss pavilion it is a pleasure to return and work. Each year there is a high demand from Swiss companies who wish to participate at the expo due to its regional location as well as the number of quality visitors from South China and Southeast Asia.” The Smart Construction for Quiet symposium, will take place on the fair’s very first day, providing a unique opportunity for acoustic professionals, architects, site engineers, noise control practitioners, and build and civil contractors, to learn about the latest policies, and the best ways to tackle noise construction problems. The full day event gathers experts on an international scale and gives industry leaders the change to deliver their knowledge to other, like-minded, establishments. A wide range of environmental product categories will be featured, including green buildings and energy efficient green transportation, alongside water treatment and quality management. After its debut at last year’s event, the Startup Zone will also make a re-appearance, aiming to encourage greener start-ups from new up and coming companies.
