UBM is discontinuing a trio of London-based building, facilities and energy events as part of sweeping changes to its approach in those sectors.The organiser has cancelled its annual Building Services event at Olympia, attributing the decision to the growth of its Ecobuild brand focused on the sustainable design, construction and built environment. Building Services was most recently held in conjunction with the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) conference in October.
“We have already planned major investment into Ecobuild and our Built Environment portfolio, offering a host of new features and content that will cater to those working across building services and the construction and design sector,” UBM group event manager Fergus Bird said.
“2012 was a great year for our Building Services event and we were delighted to work with CIBSE on its annual conference. However, having reviewed all of UBM’s activity for 2013 we feel the Building Service sector is already covered extensively by our Built Environment products, including the world’s biggest event for sustainable design, construction and the built environment, Ecobuild.”
CIBSE will retain its partnership with Ecobuild, which returns to Excel in March, and will announce a new format for its conference in 2013 in coming months.
UBM also announced it will merge the FM Event into its annual Facilities Show at The NEC from 2013. The FM Event was co-located with Building Services at Olympia.
This year’s Facilities Show reported 27.7 per cent growth in pure visitors and reported 13,464 attendees including visitors who crossed over from co-located events IFSEC International and the Safety and Health Expo.
Bird said the Facilities Show had grown 86 per cent from 2009 to 2012, with exhibitors rising from 81 to more than 300 this year.
“Investing and strengthening Facilities Show ensures we can build on the previous success and legacy of both shows, showcasing the latest and most innovative global FM products and services,” he said.
UBM has also confirmed its Energy Solutions event, due to run alongside Building Services and FM Event, will not be held in 2013. The organiser plans to relaunch the show brand in 2014 with a new format. UBM acquired Energy Solutions in 2007.
The exhibition overhaul comes hot on the heels of UBM’s decision to make its UBM Built Environment division part of the UBM Live business .
The restructure saw former chief executive for UBM Built Environment Adrian Barrick become the group’s first chief content officer.