RESULTS 2011
Results of the VI th specialized trade show Wooden House Building 2011
The VI th specialized trade show Wooden House Building 2011 was held on October 19-22 at the International Exhibition Centre. More than 50 leading companies in the Ukrainian wooden house building market participated in the trade show. As a part of the trade show, there were specialized expositions Fireplaces & Stoves, Baths & Saunas presented by more than 20 companies. The range of products represented at the trade show covered all areas of the wooden house building, from designing a low-rise wooden house to furnishing recreation areas with small wooden architectural forms.
The trade show exposition this year clearly demonstrated that the wooden house building market in Ukraine exists, but its development is restrained by some objective (decrease in the households income) and subjective factors, primarily, some problems in the companies’ understanding of the clients’ preferences and possibilities. The Organizing Committee agrees with the main thesis statement of Ivan Salii, Head of the Supervisory Board of the Association All-Ukrainian Construction Materials and Products Manufacturers’ Union, pronounced at the trade show Wooden House Building 2011 opening ceremony: the year 2007 will not repeat again. Wooden house building market can no longer develop in a spontaneous, uncontrolled and chaotic way. It is necessary to streamline the market structure, implement the civilized working schemes and prepare the companies’ management psychologically and financially to meet the requirements of the real clients. According to the survey results (data was collected through the interview series with the participants and filled in questionnaires of the visitors), the companies are often not ready to work by the clients’ rules and refer to the experience of the last pre-crisis years, when customers were on the long list for their service and obeyed the rules of the construction companies. The trade show visitors this year often encountered some troubles in communication with the constructors when those latter could not answer clearly all the questions asked. Nevertheless, the Organizing Committee has made great efforts to mobilize the market players, unite them in one place and arrange a meeting with real customers. And obviously the efforts made have delivered the goods!
For the first time in the trade show history, one used the system for counting the actual number of visitors. During four days, 3126 people came to the show and together they made more than four thousand visits, which means that every third visitor came to the show twice. This year the Organizing Committee has managed to attract an entirely new visiting audience, more than a half of the visitors reported that they visited Wooden House Building Trade Show for the first time. Thanks to the electronic visitor registration system, it was possible not just to form the representative statistics, but also to trace the effective advertising means. The Organizing Committee is going to use these data to evaluate the effectiveness of the current year trade show advertising campaign, the level of interest among Ukrainians in wooden houses and the advertising campaign plan for Wooden House Building 2012. Such a detailed marketing analysis will allow forming the correct mechanisms to impact the audience and enhancing promotional efforts efficiency in the future.
This year the trade show participants noticed the high level of interest to the wooden house building sector among the representatives of the field-specific organizations, unions and associations. The show was opened by:
- Chief Expert of the Forest Resources Use Department of The State Agency on Forest Resources of Ukraine, Pyotr Rekovets
- President of the Kyiv City Organization of the National Architects’ Union of Ukraine, Vadim Zhezherin
- Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Association All-Ukrainian Construction Materials and Products Manufacturers’ Union, Ivan Salii
- President of the All-Ukrainian NGO Living Planet, Svetlana Berzina
- Chairman of the Board of the Designers’ Union of Ukraine, Sergei Chuev
- Professor of the Kyiv National University of Engineering and Architecture, Vitaly Klimenko
- Director of the S-TEAM Exhibition Company, Anna Shishkina
This year the show visitors were pleasantly surprised by a number of innovations. For the first time in six years of work, the business program was included into the show. It comprised workshops and panel discussions on urgent topics in wooden house building industry.
- The panel discussion Wood Processing. Wooden House Building in Ukraine: Present Status and Opportunities raised a vivid interest among experts. The event was organized by the Association All-Ukrainian Construction Materials and Products Manufacturers’ Union. The panel discussion moderator Ivan Salii noted that the primary solution for the construction industry should be import substitution, as this approach is not only patriotic, but effective as well. Today the import substitution process takes place spontaneously, upon the initiative of strong multinational companies, but not on behalf of the Ukrainian players. He also pointed out that clustering may be an effective means of cooperation between the government, business and the general public. The discussion of the objectives and operation principles of such clusters could not leave aside a single listener.
- A workshop on Comprehensive Protection of the Wooden House by Remmers, which took place on October 20 and has attracted more than 30 listeners, indeed triggered a heated dispute. The chief technologist and consultant Yuri Trushkovskii told in professional terms not only about the basic principles of chemical protection of wooden houses, but also about some special tools proved to be effective.
- The Association All-Ukrainian Construction Materials and Products Manufacturers’ Union conducted two specialized workshops at a time, namely Standardization in the Wooden House Building and Using Patented New Technology to Get Funding for Construction Programs. These events, due to the huge interest within the audience and professionalism of the speakers, brought up a vivid discussion of the opportunities for standardization in Ukraine using the international experience, the use of patented technology to obtain funding, protecting intellectual property rights, and innovative projects financing.
- The President of All-Ukrainian NGO Living Planet, Svetlana Berzina’s report Ecological Certification and Marking of Construction and Paint-and-Lacquer Materials was recognized as the most innovative. The green construction issue, as it turned out, had been a concern for the construction industry players for quite a while already. Modern business conditions require compliance with environmental criteria in construction and using paints and lacquers. Those criteria are set to assure the improved environmentally friendly characteristics of the products.
During all days of the trade show everyone willing could see how the professional bathhouse attendants worked at the Bath Island provided by the International Bath Art Association. And 30 lucky people were able not only to watch but also to steam in a real Russian bath-house under the skilled guidance of the bath masters.
On October 22 at 14:00 o’clock the winners of the architectural competition Masterpieces of Wooden House Building were announced. Anna Fedotova with the project Anna in the category The Best Completed Project of a Wooden House has received a gift certificate to purchase TIKKURILATM products. The GermesStroy Company with the project Osokorki in the category The Best Wooden House Project was awarded a valuable prize from one of the competition organizers, Project Sales Center. Elena Samarina with the project Log House for a Bachelor in the category The Best Wooden House Design Project was granted a set of exclusive books on interior design of wooden houses from Baikal Doors Company. Jaroslav Terletsky with the project Silver Lakes in the category The Best Project in Wooden Structures Implementation into the Landscape was awarded a ‘money’ tree from TOPIAR Company. Besides, each architect has received an exclusive discount card to purchase products from the Baikal.Doors Company.
Organizers of the competition, S-TEAM Exhibition Company, the publishing house ACC Media and Projects Sales Centre, would like to thank sincerely all the architects and designers for their active participation in this new project for the Wooden House Building show.
In the Guests’ Book of the Wooden House Building Show 2011, the majority of participants indicated a high level of the show organization, a dynamic business program and favourable timing for the event. Autumn time, compared to the ‘sleepy December’ is ideal for the companies and the visitors to meet at the show in order to complete an order book for the next year. This year the number of visitors did not reach the maximum, but the companies pointed out that the visitors were ‘focused, and result-oriented’. The PROFIBUD Company representative said,"Thank you for the well-organized show. Only positive reviews! Having some trade show experience in Finland, we can say that your show works very well”. NIK Company’s view of the show is as follows, "Participation in the show has delivered us positive results as we met new customers and people interested in buying a wooden house who are our potential customers. Thank you very much for this event. Do not stop there, and go on attracting more and more participants”.
Summarizing the results, the Organizing Committee can say that the Wooden House Building show has a great future. But in order for the next show to demonstrate rapid growth, one needs all the stakeholders to consolidate their efforts. Those are the Organizing Committee, participants, associations, the media and relevant agencies. The Organizing Committee is ready, and you?
