An expert jury – dr. Marjana Šijanec Zavrl, dr. Manja Kitek Kuzman and dr. Niko Torelli, led by Friderik Knez, made a selection among the eleven registered products on the basis of several parameters. The products were different among themselves. Each of the registered products shows one or the other component which contributes to the effective environmental management. The jury awarded the Green Mission prize to the JUB d.o.o. company for the product JUBIZOL comfort cool: this is an innovative product which solves some technical problems of facade systems. As it is written in the jury's explanation, it certainly is a very up-to-date product, because it importantly contributes to the energy use in buildings. JUB d.o.o. company is a famous Slovenian company which is distinguished for its systemic approach to environmental management. The expert jury awarded the Green Mission prize in the category »other products« to the company Proform d.o.o. for the product Fonaterm granular, made by the producer Fonaterm d.o.o. As it was explained by the expert jury, »Fonaterm granular product is, on a global scale, the first insulation which is made of textile remnants which are produced when tailoring car seats. It represents an example of an effective use of waste of a certain industry in civil engineering. The product is a result of Slovenian knowledge and it has also been patented. «
Friderik Knez emphasized that GR – Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre, as the organizer of HOME fair, sends with this prize a message to the public: »Sustainable technologies are the key to long-term survival of individual companies, because they bring to a company a comprehensive planning of products and the necessary optimization of processes and sources … Sustainable products are also extremely important for the use in buildings, because buildings are our most long-lasting investment, which usually extends across many generations. This is exactly why sustainability is most explicit in buildings. If a building is supposed to be sustainable, it has to be made of sustainable materials, and the building itself, as a process, also has to be sustainable. This means that we use local materials with the lowest possible grey energy and with the lowest possible emissions. A building also has to be energy efficient and, as far as possible, recyclable. And last, but not least, the building has to be not only sustainable, but long-lasting as well. Innovativeness is also important. Contrary to many people's believes, civil engineering is an industry where innovations and development and scientific and technological achievements easily find their place.« With these words Mr. Knez defined the importance of sustainable building.
628 companies from 26 countries were presented at the 51st international HOME fair under the slogan Key solutions. Last year's HOME fair was, the same as 2011's, a fair with the largest surface area, because it stretched over 24, 000 square metres of display areas: in addition to all available and two prefabricated halls, it also occupied the premises of the neighbouring Apel complex (former Slovenijales shopping centre).
There was a rich programme accompanying the fair which was being prepared by ZRMK Civil Engineering Institute and the Wood and Furniture Industry Association at the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce. It was especially important to emphasize the importance of free counselling for wider public, where experts offer factual and practical advice concerning energy saving, sustainable and environment friendly building, renovation of buildings etc. The organiser s, therefore, inviting all the interested public, not only those, who are building and renovating or are planning to do it in the near future, but everybody else who should visit the fair and take advantage of its free counselling and workshops, which are very topical, all the more so in these times of crisis.
HOME fair is an international fair of civil engineering, where it is possible to see a selection of builders’ joinery, products for interior design, indoor and outdoor arrangements, equipment for heating and cooling, materials and products for civil engineering and products which technically protect, upgrade or enliven our homes. It reflects new trends in the area of civil engineering, energy use, energy systems, house technique and living in a certain place in general. One of the distinctive components of these trends is also environmental awareness of producers, builders and users of buildings. It is about the newly emphasized guidelines of sustainable civil engineering and green technologies.