KUALA LUMPUR: The International Construction Week 2014 (ICW 2014), dubbed the largest building and construction platform in Southeast Asia, kicked off on Wednesday, with the theme “Building a Better Tommorrow”.
The annual event, which will end on Tuesday, features 300 exhibitors from 24 countries, including United Kingdom, China, Singapore and South Korea, and is expected to attract 15,000 visitors.
Last year, more than 210 exhibitors from 19 countries participated in the event. It drew 7,000 visitors.
The week-long event would see 65 conferences, 39 seminars comprising full day workshops and discussions, awards presentation, business matching opportunities and networking sessions. This year’s event uges industry players to adopt sustainable practices.
Works Minister Datuk Fadillah Yusof said sustainable construction was not only confined to the builders, but involved project owners, developers, clients, planners, designers and surveyors as well.
“The process of achieving sustainable construction must begin long before the first piece of concrete is poured.”
ICW 2014 is an initiative of the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) in collaboration with Ecobuild Southeast Asia 2014, a global sustainable construction event that aims to connect industry professionals.
Ecobuild champions business cases for more sustainable buildings and helps its participants respond to complex and demanding legislations. It connects the entire build environment supply chain, helping them to play their part in realising the vision of cleaner, greener and more efficient buildings.
Fadillah said with the inclusion of Ecobuild, ICW was on track to become the most important regional marketplace, and grow into a bigger and stronger summit for sustainable construction.
“Southeast Asia is the ideal place for the world to converge for events, such as ICW and Ecobuild. This is because Southeast Asia has been recognised as the fastest growing region in terms of economic and construction growth.”
CIDB chairman Tan Sri Dr Ahmad Tajuddin Ali said Ecobuild was well positioned to be a marketplace for local and international suppliers of low carbon construction technologies to test the buoyant and emerging region.
He said Ecobuild, which will be the main exhibition component this year, had a track record of attracting more than 50,000 visitors.
“You will be amazed by the vast amount of products that illustrates sustainable practices in the construction industry.”