Next year’s Plantworx will be combined with a brand-new railway infrastructure-related exhibition and will move to a larger venue to accommodate it, organizers have announced.
The Construction Equipment Association (CEA) made the announcement at an event attended by iVT this week to mark one year to go before the 2019 show kicks off.
Railworx, organized by Rail Media, will work alongside the Plantworx team offering rail- based industry manufacturers and suppliers the opportunity to showcase their products at the multi-industry exhibition. The increased presence of rail at the show reflects the growing significance of railway infrastructure projects to the UK construction industry.
Rob Oliver, chief executive of CEA, said, “Plantworx remains committed to its core purpose of showcasing the best construction equipment on offer to the UK market. Two major new initiatives for 2019 are the move to the purpose-built East of England Arena and Event Centre and the addition of Railworx – which will run alongside Plantworx.
“The biggest construction projects going forward are rail related – HS2 alone is worth in the region of £55.7bn (US$73.8bn). Our partnership with Rail Media will give us access to key rail project executives and help us make the most of the great business opportunities now emerging.”
Jolene Price, Rail Media’s events director, said: “We’re delighted to be partnering with Plantworx to expand rail’s presence at such a significant exhibition for the manufacturers and providers of construction equipment.
“Projects like HS2 and Crossrail 2, as well as Network Rail’s £47bn (US$62bn) CP6 programme, present a huge opportunity for the sector, but there is also a lot of pressure on the industry to meet this demand. Railworx will be a celebration of innovation and enterprise across the sector. It will be a great opportunity for our railway colleagues to learn from developments in other sectors, and vice versa.”
The East of England Arena and Events Centre in Peterborough, England will host the bi-annual event on June 11-13 2019. The new venue has permanent indoor and outdoor exhibition facilities and will offer 200,000m2 of space – 40% more than last year’s event.
“Good mobile phone and wi-fi facilities are also part of the package – plus it is just five minutes from the A1 road. We took our time making the selection, but we are confident that we have found the best solution and we have an option for at least two further events at the venue – taking us up to 2023,” added Oliver.
