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Big 5 Builders’ Fair Opens on Upbeat Note

DUBAI — The region’s largest trade fair for the construction business got off to a strong start on Monday, amid dense crowds of visitors and a 6 per cent increase in the number of exhibitors
 over last year.

More than 3,000 companies from 52 countries are participating in this week’s Big 5 show at the Dubai World Trade Centre. Among the major exhibitors are Climatech of Canada, Belgium’s Echo Engineering, Germany’s Hoermann KG VKG and Mulk Holdings of the UAE.

When the Big 5 last come to town in November 2008, the construction industry had just entered a recession and the UAE’s building bonanza was in crisis. This year, recent signs of recovery have led many exhibitors to express cautious optimism that the worst of the downturn may finally 
be over.

“We were expecting probably less people than what we are seeing right now. We’ve seen quite a lot of visitors, and we’re had some (encouraging) contacts already,” said Ines Coelho, the marketing chief for CS-Coelho da Silva, a Portuguese producer of 
clay roofing tiles.

This is the third time in as many years that Coelho has represented her firm at the Big 5. She said the show is a valuable way for her company to raise its profile in the Middle East, where villa owners are developing a taste for tile roofs.

“We’re trying to get a little bit away from Europe, where the market for new homes is slowing down,” Coelho told Khaleej Times.

At the previous edition of the Big 5 last November, 2,833 participating firms filled 38,600 square meters of exhibition space. This week’s show fills 43,000 square meters, 11 per cent more than in 2008. Environmental issues and green building technologies are also a bigger focus this year, the show’s organisers said.

After a lacklustre Cityscape property show in October, the local building industry and the bankers and service companies that support it have been waiting with some apprehension to see how the Big 5 unfolds.

Last year’s show took place “when we were feeling the full blast of the recession,” said Shaji Ul Mulk, Chairman of Mulk Holdings. “This year, the confidence is back to a certain extent among the developers and builders,” he said in an interview.

Dmg world media, the Big 5’s organiser, said in September that the Middle East still had $3.1 trillion worth of projects in the pipeline. That was in spite of the collapse in business 
here in Dubai.

The UAE accounted for 42 per cent of this total project value, with 7,231 property projects still being built in the country, the organizer said, quoting research done by an independent consultancy called BNC.

“It has been a tough year for the construction industry, but the Big 5 is the first time that the international construction community has come together since the beginning of the downturn, and it will provide an excellent platform to share our thoughts on the past 12 months and devise strategies for the future,” said Simon Mellor, dmg world media’s head of construction, in a statement.

The Big 5 continues through November 26. — bruce@khaleejtimes.com