Gulf Construction Online - Update

Expo News

Update - Expo News

01 January 2009

Concrete industry set to meet
THE World of Concrete 2009 exhibition will be held next month (February 3 to 6) at the Convention Centre in Las Vegas, US.

It is an event for construction professionals with a focus on the environment, green building technologies and materials.
The exhibition features special product and action areas including materials, equipment, demos, and seminars; handling, trucks, excavators, delivery, distribution, concrete placement, and earth-moving; concrete repair and demolition; surface preparation and scarifying; masonry products and tools; and technology for construction, showcasing the newest products and tools for the commercial construction industry from top information technology and systems providers.
A total of 84,789 professional registrants from around the world attended the event last year. With more than 900,000 sq ft of the newest concrete and masonry products, ideas and technologies from 1,700 exhibiting companies, the exhibition was the second largest in its 34-year history, second only to its 2007 edition.
Call to search for water resources
SPEAKERS at last month’s Meed Middle East Wastewater Treatment and Reuse 2008 forum, which was held in Abu Dhabi, UAE, stressed the need for the Middle East to look for renewable water resources.
With Gulf countries spending $133 billion annually on water and wastewater management, more effective strategies are needed, such as convincing companies and even residents to set up their own sustainable infrastructure, they said.
The forum affirmed the immediate need to establish a major regional programme for wastewater treatment and reuse, which would ensure optimal management of scarce water resources to meet spiralling demand.
$178bn boon for security sector
GLOBAL homeland security spending is expected to increase six-fold to more than Dh653 billion ($178 billion) by 2015, according to the organiser of the Intersec trade fair and conference, which is being held in Dubai this month (January 18 to 20).
“Homeland security is among the fastest-growing industries and initially the focus was on airport security but the industry has expanded to include counter-terrorism, emergency management, disaster preparedness, critical infrastructure protection, and increasing the public’s overall level of situational awareness and readiness,” said Angela Schierholz, senior show manager at Epoc Messe Frankfurt, organiser of the fair. Spending for anti-terrorism goods and services is expected to keep growing, she added.