Final report 2009

Let's build together!

From Tuesday, March 3rd, to Sunday March 8th 2009, the Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre hosted the 48th international HOME fair under a common motto "Let’s build together". 577 companies from 30 countries exhibited their offer on 18,000 m2 of exhibition space. As the fair has again increased in size, exhibitors presened their offer in all of the exhibition halls of the Centre, three additional prefabricated halls and external exhibition surfaces. The fair included a varied accompanying program, prepared by the ZRMK Construction Institute, the Association of Woodworking and Furniture Industry at the Chamber of Commerce of Slovenia and the Korak Information Centre. The fair attracted over 50,000 visitors.

CONTENT.
The Home fair is one of the largest and most visited events at GR, it is an international fair of construction which showcases offers in joinery, internal design, decorations for your home and garden, cooling and heating equipment, building materials and products and products for technical protection, style and extra spirit in your home.

EXHIBITION PROGRAMME BY HALLS.

• Mestna Hall-A1– joinery, garage doors, fence systems, technical security
• Hall Kupola-A – prefabricated houses, roofing, skylights
• Lobby of Kupola – shades, insurance, publishing, lectures and counseling
• Gallery- catering
• A-A2 Passageway – publishing
• Kocka Hall-A2 – joinery, security doors
• Marmorna Hall-B – air conditioning and heating equipment, bathrooms and sanitation equipment
• Marmorna Hall Lobby-B2 – heating equipment
• Marmorna Hall-B basement– parquet and laminate floors, cooling and heating equipment, construction
• Marmorna Hall-B2 basement – heating equipment, tools, purification plants
• Steklena Hall-C – construction, roofing, fronting, insulation technology
• Fontana-D – construction, roofing, fronting, insulation technology, colors, lacquers, shading
• Jurček-E – gardening and landscaping equipment, bathroom equipment
• F Hall – furniture, beds and water beds, garden furniture, saunas and swimming pools
• Exterior – fireplaces, stoves, chimneys, cement products, joinery, swimming pools and equipment, gardening and landscaping equipment, construction products and materials

ACCOMPANYING PROGRAMME.
The exhibition was accompanied by a varied program, aimed not only at the professional public but at all visitors.
The ZRMK Construction Institute and the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning organized energy counseling for visitors free of charge each day from 10.00 to 18.00 (right extension of the Kupola Lobby). There has also been a presentation of the activities of the Eco Fund, Slovenian Environmental Public Fund with resources for loans and subsidies for environmentally friendly investments of natural and legal persons.


Visitors were welcome to attend themed lectures. Lecturers included energy consultants of the ENSVET network and professionals from the ZRMK Construction Institute operating in the field of living environments, construction physics and energy in buildings, as well as in the “Sign of Quality in Construction” project. The Sign of Quality in Construction is an optional certification sign and service trademark used for differentiation of the best products and services in Slovenian construction. he main goals of the project include the promotion of products and services of the highest quality, improvement of quality of construction in Slovenia and informing and protection of customers - users. The program included two free professional workshops:

• 6. 3. (12.00 –14.30) ) the Cooling of Buildings is a Hot Topic workshop - a project in two phases: the first phase is aimed at creating a review of sustainable methods for cooling buildings and presenting good practices in cooling of business and public buildings. Results of the technologies and approaches along with select good practices are joined together in the Keep Cool tool. This tool provides tips and guidelines for investors, technical advisors, maintenance personnel and building users, along with detailed descriptions of cooling technologies and case studies of good practices. As the information is adapted to different user profiles, the workshop is interesting both for professionals (technology descriptions, LCC analysis software) and maintenance personnel, investors and end users.
• 7. 3. (12.00 –15.00) The lecture discussed current themes in new construction and renovation of low energy and passive buildings.

Association of Woodworking and Furniture Industry at the Chamber of Commerce of Slovenia, Section of Slovene Manufacturers of Prefabricated Houses has prepared professional lectures and commercial presentations aimed at all those interested in prefabricated wood construction (4 - 7 March, common exhibition space of the Section of Slovene Manufacturers of Prefabricated Houses, Kupola Hall):

• Passive wooden houses
• Wood prefabricated construction in terms of energy efficiency
• Finding financial incentives when building with wood
• Building with wood - an opportunity and challenge for Slovenia
• Use of wood as contribution to mitigating climate change
• Wood in folklore

KORAK Information Centra (Urška Hall):

• 4. 3. (15.00-18.00): ICounseling for contractors - legally informed and healthy contractor
• 5. 3. (15.00-18.00): Maintenance and sanitation of premises - moisture in premises: problems and solutions
• 6. 3. (15.00-18.00): Light in space - light, colors and perception of space; characteristics of good lighting

At the end of the week, the Home Fair (lobby of City Hall - A1) hosted a presentation of the Non Violence Network - an association of the four largest non-governmental organizations against violence in Slovenia:

• Association SOS Help Line for Women and Children - Victims of Violence
• Ključ - centre for fight against THB
• Women’s Counselling Service
• Association Against Violent Communication

At the International Women’s Day, 8 March, they wished to call the visitors’ attention to the most common violation of women’s human rights. Every fifth woman in Slovenia is a victim of violence in the very place where she should feel safest - at home.

AWARDS.
The Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre and the Association of Woodworking and Furniture Industry at the Chamber of Commerce of Slovenia presented the Star of Europe award for the best products in internal and external joinery.
The special commission (Friderik Knez - Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute, president, Dr. Željko Gorišek - Biotechnical Faculty, Wood technology department, Miran Jamnik - Wood Technology High School Ljubljana, Ana Krašovec - Slovenian Standardization Institute and Bojan Tinat - BELINKA-Belles) has chosen the following:

• for the program of external joinery - windows, doors and shades Jelovica d.d. for the Jelostar + window
  
• for the program of internal joinery - internal doors LIP BLED d.o.o. for Grafit doors.

OPENING.
The grand opening of the Home Fair took place at 12.00 on 3 March 2009 in the Urška hall (2nd floor, Dunajska 18). The event was opened by Deputy Mayor of the city of Ljubljana, Mr. Jani Moderndorfer.

The Urška hall also hosted an evening reception with a banquet and social programme for exhibitors that same evening.

CATALOG.
Upon purchase of a ticket, each visitor received a fair catalog containing a list and short descriptions of all exhibitors, a list of represented companies and map of halls.

PRIZES FOR VISITORS.
GR has again prepared a number of prizes, donated by exhibitors. Each 500th visitor of the fair received a free pass for the Ljubljana Furniture Fair, coming in November this year.

TICKET PRICES.

• 7,00 € - Regular entry pass (adults)
• 5,00 € - Discount pass (Children aged 7 - 16, students, retired persons)
• free of charge- Children up to the age of 7, disabled persons in wheelchairs and their assistants

Registers were open 9.15 – 19.15 from 3 to 7 March 2009 and from 9.15 to 17.45 on 8 March.

FAIR OPEN HOURS.

• 3 - 7 March 2009: from 9.00 to 19.30
• 8 March 2009 : from 9.30 to 18.00

PRESS CENTRE.
The press centre at Dunajska 18, 1st floor, was open from 9.15 to 19.00 every day of the fair except the last day, when it closed at 17.00. Representatives of the press were given full access to all relevant event information. Journalists were also able to get accredited at the centre, if they did not do so at the fair website.

THE FAIR ONLINE.
The Home 2009 fair is presented online at the following address: www.home-fair.si