Ecobuild Southeast Asia and International Construction Week 2016 Focus on Cutting-edge Technologies to Drive Productivity

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ecobuild Southeast Asia 2016 and International Construction Week 2016 (ICW2016), the region's biggest trade event for the construction industry, was launched on 12 April 2016 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre by Dato' Sri Haji Fadillah Bin Haji Yusof, Minister of Works Malaysia, on behalf of the Prime Minister Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Tun Razak.

Ribbon cutting by Dato’ Sri Haji Fadillah, Minister of Works Malaysia accompany by Datuk Rosnah, Deputy Minister of Work Malaysia, Dato' Sri Zohari, Sec. Gen. Ministry of Work, Tan Sri Dr. Ir. Ahmad Tajuddin Ali, Chairman of CIDB Malaysia, Dato’ Ir. Ahmad ‘Asri, CIDB Chief Executive, Mr. M Gandhi, Managing Director (ASEAN Business) of UBM Asia and other VIP entourage symbolises the official opening of the Ecobuild Southeast Asia 2016.

The highly anticipated three-day event was loaded with interactive activities, conferences, seminars and jam-packed at the show floor.

Held under the theme "Driving Productivity in Construction" and organised by UBM Malaysia, Ecobuild SEA 2016 focused on the spotlight on cutting-edge technologies and methodologies to improve productivity and sustainability in construction, particularly Industrialised Building System (IBS), as showcased in the Industrialised Building Systems Housing Expo.

"The theme of this year's show is driving productivity further by increasing technology adoption and modernising construction methods," said Prime Minister Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Tun Razak. "This is an important aspect of our national economy for it is through increased productivity that we can properly target becoming a high-income nation by 2020."

"Although the use of the Industrial Building System (IBS) under our productivity thrust has been proven to be a technological force with many benefits in several other countries, there is still resistance and reluctance to adopt this modern form of construction technology locally," explained Tan Sri Ir Ahmad Tajuddin Ali, Chairman of CIDB, in his address during the opening. "The CIDB has repeatedly assured that the IBS has proven to be a quality, safe, energy-efficient method of construction, and that could also help to modernise the local building industry since 10 years ago."

Ecobuild SEA is co-located with the IBS Housing Expo and the CIDB-IEM Construction Career Fair 2016, all under one roof. The exhibition consists of 127 exhibitors from eight countries and regions. The participating countries are Malaysia, Singapore, China, Canada, Hong Kong, Germany, France and Australia.

As the leading platform for the construction industry in Southeast Asia, the show had successfully drawn 12,073 visitors from 63 countries, a 15% increase from 2015. 10.3% of the visitors are international.

There were a total of 66 paid conferences, forums, free seminars and technology symposiums, as well as five competitions alongside Ecobuild SEA. Several competitions had their finale during ICW 2016: My City 2050, Rebuild It Green, Open Ideas ­­­­­­­­Competition, International Highest Early Strength Self-Consolidating Concrete Cube Competition and IEM Mechanical Design Competition.

The next edition, Ecobuild SEA 2017 will be held on 12-14 April 2017 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.  The theme will be "Quality, Safety and Professionalism", which is one of the four strategic thrusts of the Construction Industry Transformation Programme (CITP). It will co-locate with Greenbuild 2017, Energy Efficiency Malaysia, Construction Showcase and Construction Career Fair, including International Pavilion, Industrialised Building System Pavilion, Malaysia Timber Industry Board (MTIB) Pavilion and Contractor and Entrepreneur Development Division (BPKU) Pavilion.

More interesting features will come next year. For any enquiries, kindly contact us at 603-21768788 or email ecobuildsea@ubm.com . For more information, visit  www.ecobuildsea.com.

About UBM Asia (www.ubmasia.com)

Owned by UBM plc listed on the London Stock Exchange, UBM Asia is the largest trade show organiser in Asia and the largest commercial organiser in China, India and Malaysia. Established with its headquarters in Hong Kong and subsidiary companies across Asia and in the US, UBM Asia has a strong global network of 30 offices and 1,300 staff in 24 major cities. We operate in 20 market sectors with 230 exhibitions and conferences, 23 trade publications, 20 online products for over 1,000,000 quality exhibitors, visitors, conference delegates, advertisers and subscribers from all over the world.

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