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About the last Fair

Let’s build together! 50th anniversary of the Home Fair


50th International HOME Fair
Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre (8 – 13 March 2011)

The 50th International Home Fair is the largest so far! Under the motto of Let’s build together! record 730 companies from 28 countries present themselves on approximately 24,000 square metres of exhibition surfaces, which include for the first time also the exhibition surfaces of the neighbouring Slovenijales building.

The Fair in the field of building construction was officially opened on its first day, the 8th of March by dr. Danilo Türk, President of the Republic of Slovenia. The Green Mission prize, which is awarded annually since 2010 by the Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre and the Furniture and Wood Processing Association of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia to an energy efficient and environmentally friendly product, was also presented at the opening. The rich accompanying programme was prepared by the Furniture and Wood Processing Association of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, the Building and Civil Engineering Institute ZRMK and the Section of Slovenian manufacturers of prefabricated houses. We should highlight the free of charge counselling for the general public – experts provided advice with regards to energy efficiency, sustainable and environmentally friendly construction, reconstruction of buildings following natural disasters such as, for example, last year’s floods, prefabricated timber construction, etc. A total of 52,000 visitors attended the Fair.

50 YEARS OF THE HOME FAIR
50 years of the International Home Fair is a reflection not only of the development of building construction in Slovenia, but also of the development of fair activities at the Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre. 50 years ago, the Home Fair was part of the programme under a common trademark of Alpe-Adria, which progressively promoted cross-border economic cooperation among Italy, Austria and Yugoslavia at the time. The first Fair, which took place for 9 days, presented 173 exhibitors and took place in all, i.e. three, halls of the Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre at the time.

GR NOW INCLUDES THE SLOVENIJALES BUILDING

The building of Slovenijales, a furniture showroom in Ljubljana, was constructed in 1979 and is physically connected with the neighbouring building of GR; both were designed by architect Milan Mihelič, who was one of the key designers of the group responsible for construction of the Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre. The leased spaces provide 7,907 square metres of exhibition surfaces on three floors and additional 4,600 m2 of service-storage facilities in the 2nd basement:




  • Sonet hall, ground floor (1,685 square metres)
  • Gazela hall, 1st floor (2,403 square metres)
  • Oda hall, 1st basement (3,819 square metres).
The 50th International Home Fair is thus the first fair at the GR taking place in the leased spaces of Slovenijales, thus providing GR and its exhibitors and organisers of events, and simultaneously also to the visitors of the spatially expanded Ljubljana exhibition and events centre, with a total of 21,046 square metres of exhibition surfaces.

CONTENTS
The Home Fair is an international building construction fair, which presents the offer of builders’ joinery, interior design products, landscaping, HVAC equipment, materials and products for construction and products providing technical security, upgrades or simply enrich our home. The Fair reflects the contemporary trends in the field of building construction, energy consumption, energy systems, building technology and life-style trends in general. One of the most prominent components of these trends is environmental awareness of manufacturers, construction professionals and users of buildings, i.e. the newly emphasized guidelines of sustainable building construction.

EXHIBITION PROGRAMME BY HALLS

  • HALL A1/TOWN HALL – builders' joinery, garage doors, fence systems, security
  • HALL A /KUPOLA – prefabricated houses, roof coverings, roof lights
  • FOYER of HALL A – shades, insurance companies, publishing houses, landscaping
  • GALLERY HALL A – catering
  • PASSAGEWAY A-A2 – Fair radio
  • HALL A2 /KOCKA– builders' joinery, antitheft secure doors
  • HALL B/MARMORNA HALL – HVAC technology, bathrooms and bathroom fittings
  • HALL B2/FOYER OF MARMORNA HALL – heating technology, furnaces
  • HALL B BASEMENT/STEBRNA HALL –HVAC technology
  • HALL B2 BASEMENT/POVODNI MOŽ- heating technology, tools, purification devices
  • HALL C/STEKLENA HALL– building construction, roof coverings, facades, insulation technology, paints, varnishes
  • HALL D/FONTANA – building construction, roof coverings, facades, insulation technology, shades, prefabricated houses
  • HALL E /JURČEK – presentation of the VILA BRAVUM group
  • HALL S/SONET – garden and landscaping equipment, fences
  • HALL G/GAZELA – publishing houses, banks and insurance companies, domestic appliances, other interior design products, lectures and counselling available for visitors of the Fair
  • HALL O/ODA – floor and wall coverings, parquet floors, laminates, saunas and pools, central vacuuming systems, purifying devices, HVAC, building construction, paints and varnishes, furniture and garden furniture
  • EXTERNAL SPACE – fireplaces, furnaces, chimneys, cement products, builders' joinery, pools and pool technology, equipment for garden and home surroundings, landscaping tools, construction products and materials

ACCOMPANYING PROGRAMME

A rich accompanying programme prepared in cooperation among the Furniture and Wood Processing Association of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, the Building and Civil Engineering Institute ZRMK and the Section of Slovenian manufacturers of prefabricated houses, complements the exhibition section of the Fair.

Building and Construction Institute ZRMK
hall Gazela (G), 1st floor of Slovenijales building

Free of charge energy counselling for visitors took place daily between 10:00 am and 6:00 pm. Subsequently added time slots also provided free of charge counselling for the general public on the topic of new construction and reconstruction of buildings and procedures for remedy of consequences of natural disasters.

Simultaneously, the exhibition space hosted thematic expert lectures for the general public. The lecturers included energy consultants of the ENSVET project and experts from the Building and Construction Institute ZRMK, working in the field of residential environment, building physics and energy in buildings and within the framework of the Quality Mark in Civil Engineering project.

Detailed list of lectures
The activities of the Eco Fund, the Slovenian environmental public fund for provision loans and subsidies for environmentally friendly investments of legal and natural persons were also presented.

In addition to the thematic lectures, which took place from Wednesday to Friday, the Fair also hosted three shorter expert workshops in the fields of energy efficient construction and reconstruction of buildings, networking and training of experts for issue of energy performance certificates and energy performance inspections, and environmental and sustainable evaluation of buildings with an emphasis on green procurement taking into consideration LCA and LCC. The international projects EIE ENFORCE, Come2CoM, Clean Drive, ESOLi, BUY SMART, TABULA and research project of the FP7 OPEN HOUSE programme in the field of development of indicators of sustainable construction were also presented.
Within the framework of the Mayors’ Convention and as part of the Come2CoM project, a full-day expert workshop on the subject of development of programmes and measures of energy policy in local communities took place on Thursday, 10 March, in Urška hall.


The Home Fair also included the presentation of the project entitled Quality Mark in Civil Engineering. This is a non-compulsory certification mark and a brand and service label. The label marks the best Slovenian building products and services. The main objective of the Quality Mark in Civil Engineering project is the promotion of highest quality products and services, increase of the quality of civil engineering in the Republic of Slovenia and provision of information and protection of clients/users. The Quality Mark in Civil Engineering recognitions were presented on Tuesday, 8 March, at the evening reception for the exhibitors.


Section of Slovenian manufacturers of prefabricated houses
Kupola hall, 8–13 March
Individual expert counselling on prefabricated timber housing

Detailed counselling programme available at: www.gzs.si/slo/53333

The Furniture and Wood Processing Association of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Slovenia
Urška hall, 9 March, 10:00 am
Strategy of restructuring of the Slovenian wood processing industry – professional conference and round table

Detailed programme available at: www.gzs.si/slo/53332

B2B Matchmaking wood processing professionals of SE Europe
Urška hall, 10 March, 10:00 am
Strategic partnerships and cooperation for joint appearances in third markets

Detailed programme available at: www.gzs.si/slo/53332


PRIZES AND AWARDS
Since 2010, the Furniture and Wood Processing Association of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Slovenia and the Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention centre annually present the Green Mission prize and prizes by categories for energy efficient and environmentally friendly products. The prize was presented at the official opening of the Fair on 8 March at 12 noon in Urška hall.






The 4-member expert jury consisting of:
  • Friderik Knez, BSc (Physics), President
  • Manja Kitek Kuzman, PhD, BSc (Architecture)
  • Marjana Šijanec Zavrl, PhD, BSc (Civil Engineering)
  • Niko Torelli, PhD, prof. dr. dr. h. c.

selected a product, which is environmentally friendly through its entire lifecycle – from natural resources, manufacture and use of product to its decomposition. The jury evaluated the environmental acceptability through a number of parameters.

The prize, this year presented for the second time, is wider and more comprehensive in its scope. The amended rules enable the selection of an absolute winner and winners by individual categories. All of the above were presented with prizes at the evening reception for exhibitors.

Last year, 17 companies took part in the Green Mission prize competition. The expert jury awarded the prize to the company Kovinoplastika Lož d.d. for its product Unisash Arx View, i.e. a universal window system with optimized properties with regard to environmental requirements.

This year, among 11 participating products, the jury selected UDOBJE E 92, a product manufactured by Slovenian company M Sora from Žiri:

“The innovative wooden window has optimised properties, in the class of passive windows. It achieves its properties exclusively with smart wooden construction. Additionally, it is also a product and a manufacturer, which has made a step further in the desire to gain as much knowledge as possible about the product. The concluded analyses of the impact of the product on the environment in its entire lifecycle offer an objective evaluation of the product. At least in Slovenia, this is a new thought process in terms of products and the first step towards the imminent mandatory practice” stated the jury’s report.




The Green Mission for products involving water treatment was awarded to the company EKORIM Mirko Ribič, s.p. for the SMALL BIOLOGICAL WASTE WATER TREATMENT DEVICE, manufactured by the German DELPHIN WATER SYSTEMS. The jury awarded the Green Mission in the group of other products to the company LUMAR IG d.o.o from Maribor for its passive house PRIMUS.

The Quality Mark for Construction (QMC) is a non-mandatory quality mark. It marks products and services, which fulfil the highest internationally comparable quality requirements. While the project of the Quality Mark for Construction is managed by the Institute for Construction ZRMK, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry has also been an active participant in the project from its start. The Quality Mark for Construction or fitting of external builders’ joinery was awarded to JELOVICA OKNA from Škofja Loka. The Quality Mark for Construction in the field of developmental fitting of builders’ joinery was awarded to the company KOVINOPLASTIKA LOŽ.