The Prague Post
November 22nd, 2008
Endowment Fund     Business Listings ONLINE      Reservations      Classifieds    Subscriptions
Prague Center Hotel
Prague Real Estate

Home » Archives » Real Estate

FOR ARCH keeps focus on the future

Building trade show opens next month in Prague

By Brooke Edge
For The Prague Post
August 15th, 2007 issue

Jan Přerovský/THE PRAGUE POST
Lukáš Běhal says FOR ARCH is "the biggest building trade fair in the Czech Republic."
enlarge
FOR ARCH

18th International Building Trade Fair
Prague Exhibition Centre—Letňany
Beranových 667
Prague 9
Dates: Sept. 18–22
Web: www.forarch.cz
Tickets: Adults 70–150 Kč, children 10 Kč

Call it industry bonding.
FOR ARCH, one of the largest building trade shows in Central Europe, is coming to Prague next month for a five-day exhibition.  
In 1990, ABF, a mass communication firm, launched FOR ARCH, an event for all professionals on the Czech building market.
ABF’s initial hunch about the rosy future of this country’s construction scene was obviously right on target. Over the past two decades, foreign investors have been scrambling to make their mark in the country, and many local professionals have shot to prominence since the fall of communism.
What better way to celebrate this booming industry than with a weeklong show dedicated to the trade? FOR ARCH has very quickly become an annual event not to be missed by builders and investors worldwide. It will be held this year at the expansive Letňany exhibition center from Sept. 18–22.
“FOR ARCH is our pivotal event,” says Lukáš Běhal, ABF’s foreign affairs manager. “It has the main potential to bring in foreign exhibitors.” It is, he adds, “the biggest building trade fair in the Czech Republic.”
At the event, interested parties from all sides of the building industry meet and mingle, schmoozing and taking advantage of conferences and seminars organized by ABF.
“Every year we try to find some popular theme,” Běhal says.
This year, for the 18th installment of FOR ARCH, the special events will revolve around the future of Prague’s building industry. Experts will deliver panel sessions and lectures on topics about high rise structures, “intelligent” and energy-efficient building and new construction materials.
This year’s show will also include three sub-fairs that will focus on specialized exhibitors. These include FOR INVEST, for those seeking investment opportunities; FOR SPORT, aimed at companies and individuals interested in the design and construction of athletic facilities, and the self-explanatory “Progressive Building from Wood” trade fair.
Builders, architects, real estate developers and other professionals converge on FOR ARCH “to bring their own experiences and to learn from others,” Běhal says.
Along with the local building environment, the trade show also saw rapid growth over the past two decades. Its inaugural year was held in Prague’s Congress Center, with 56 exhibitors from two countries, and 2,000 attendees, participating. By 1997, those figures ballooned to 1,370 exhibitors from 20 countries and 130,000 attendees.
“It was straight after the Velvet Revolution, so our market was hungry,” Běhal says. “People wanted to come here.”
ABF worked in partnership with the city of Prague to build that site’s exhibition facilities.
Today, the layout and interior design of each FOR ARCH trade fair is coordinated by ABF’s in-house head architect, Pavel Meixner. He is responsible for the look of the conference and is available to exhibitors who want an over-the-top space in which to feature their company.
Meixner also directs the administration of ABF’s other trade fairs in Prague and other Czech cities, which is no small feat. In 2007 alone, ABF will host more than 30 exhibitions, trade fairs and conferences related to the domestic building industry.
Despite this growth in activity, though, the building trade fair has seen some sagging numbers in recent years. Down from its peak in 1997, FOR ARCH 2006 hosted approximately 1,000 exhibitors from 12 countries, and 103,000 attendees, organizers admit.
“In the beginning the market was pretty open to everyone,” Běhal says. “Foreign companies came here to find partners and open branches. … Prague is the heart of Europe, so everyone wanted to be here.”
Part of FOR ARCH’s problem, Běhal says, came from its initial success. Those foreign companies that had attended the show in the beginning years eventually did find partners and opened branches here. They are now considered Czech companies and do not get listed as foreign exhibitors today, Běhal explains.
In addition, Prague’s building market is far more saturated than it was a decade ago, and new hotspots are found further east as Europe’s capitalist borders continue to shift.
For the past two years, Běhal’s job as foreign affairs manager at ABF has been to work on attracting more exhibitors and attendees from outside the country to the company’s trade fairs, especially FOR ARCH.
“Now we have to focus more on companies further away from here, but still with a potential to build their presence here,” he says. Běhal has spent a significant amount of time marketing the Czech building market to countries around Europe and the world. He’s already seen some success, including the 25 companies from Turkey that will exhibit at this year’s show.
Keeping up with changing trends and the global marketplace is its role to play here, and this year’s installment of FOR ARCH will be one more means of sharing information, contacts and, hopefully, financing for the future.
Brooke Edge can be reached at realestate@praguepost.com

Brooke Edge can be reached at specialsection@praguepost.com


Other articles in Real Estate (15/08/2007):

Browse the Current Issue

If you enjoyed this article, why don't you subscribe to the print version!
We accept secure online transactions provided by PayPal and Moneybookers

Be the first to add a comment!


Full Name: *
City: *
E-mail: **
This comment can be published in the print version of The Prague Post
Enter the text on the right:
 visual captcha
Comment: *
* Required field. In order to be approved for display, comments must have a first and last name and a city.
** E-mails are required and will only be used for internal purposes.

Most visited in Business Listings

Hotel booking
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.