The UK’s largest event for the built environment, UK Construction Week (UKCW) London made a welcome return to ExCeL last week, with visitor numbers up 6% from last year.

The show included a star-studded line-up of high-profile names including Lord Callanan, Mark Thurston (HS2), architect and Channel 4 presenter George Clarke, BBC presenter Victoria Derbyshire, and BBC journalist and presenter Simon Jack.

Co-located with Concrete Expo and The Offsite Show, UKCW London celebrated culture change in construction with three days of debate and discussion from top speakers across seven stages, with issues covered including Net Zero, sustainability, offsite manufacturing, mental health, and improving diversity and inclusion.

With over 10,000 products on display from over 300 exciting exhibitors including Rointe, Kingspan, Google, Sevadis, HP, Celsa UK, Houzz Pro, Hanson Plywood and many more, the multi award-winning show attracted a wealth of overseas exhibitors from as far afield as Australia, China, India, Norway, Turkey and the UAE.

Show highlights included:

Construction Sport’s pre-show sustainability ‘regatta’ at Royal Victoria Dock, featuring vessels built using only construction waste materials, to demonstrate the power of team work to promote mental well-being

An array of high-profile speakers, including government ministers Lord Callanan and Nusrat Ghani, and MP Caroline Nokes

A myriad of exclusives and showcases, including the UK launch of HP SitePrint – a robotic layout solution for quick, accurate and easy construction site layouts

Shining a spotlight on the unsung heroes and talented professionals in the construction industry, the Role Models Campaign, now in its sixth year, saw Barbara Akinkunmi, Founder, Girls Under Construction, Alan Dalton, Lead Mentor, Volunteer It Yourself CIC and Mariola Vieggas-Trimble, Design & Technical Lead, Southwark Council announced as the 2023 shortlist

The winning exhibitors of this year’s Stand Awards included:

Fischer Fixings UK Ltd – best space only stand under 50m
@Home-MMC – best space only stand over 50m
WowNow Hire – most interactive stand
ABC+ Warranty – best marketing campaign
Eco Foundry – best shell scheme stand
MyCircle – best start-up exhibitor
IPG Energy – most sustainable exhibitor

Nathan Garnett, UKCW event director, said after the show: “The extent to which the London show has grown since its debut last year is testament to not only the appetite for construction professionals to meet and interact in real life, but it shows how the industry has really bounced back since the pandemic. See you all in Birmingham in October!”