3,094 visitors – Full house at both congress and exhibition

·         Delighted speakers, very well received by exhibitors and visitors

·         Architect Jürgen Engel: “A fantastic event, nearly perfect”

·         Exhibition Director: “Precisely the right time to position BAU in China”

The premiere of BAU Congress China on July 8 and 9, 2014 in Beijing exceeded all expectations. A total of 3,094 visitors came along to this two-day congress with accompanying exhibition – that´s well above the number the organizers expected, based on the level of advance registrations.

BAU Congress China, which was held in the China National Convention Center (CNCC), near the Olympic Village, was organized by MMI Shanghai, a subsidiary of Messe München International. Support came from the team behind BAU, the “World´s Leading Trade Fair for Architecture, Materials and Systems”. Ahead of the congress around 1,000 people had registered in advance to attend this premiere event. “What we didn´t expect was that many more would turn up at the venue and register there,” explained Mirko Arend, Deputy Business Unit Director at Messe München and Exhibition Director of BAU in Munich.

Logically, most of the attendees came from China, but trade professionals also traveled to the event from Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain. In total the registered visitors spanned ten countries, and, as an analysis of the registrations showed, they were primarily architects, engineers, urban developers, property experts and investors. Almost all the attendees were positively impressed with the high quality of the event. “The exhibition was quite different from any other shows that I participated in before,” explained, for example, Tiantian Du, an architect at the Architectural Design and Research Institute of Harbin Institute of Technology. For him the lectures in the congress were “a very valuable learning opportunity”. A similar opinion was expressed by Hongbo Ma, General Manager, Beijing Vantone Real Estate: “The level of BAU Congress China was quite high. I think it was the right time to bring BAU to the Chinese market, as the future trend of China´s real estate will focus on quality not on quantity.”

The Deputy CEO of Messe München, Dr. Reinhard Pfeiffer, had opened the event on July 8, and, by its close he was very satisfied with the decision to position a high-caliber congress in China, built upon the expertise of the world´s leading building trade show, BAU: “The great appeal and success of the first BAU Congress China shows that this is precisely the right time for us to position this platform for quality in the People´s Republic.”

Ryan Loh, Managing Director of MMI Shanghai, summed up his impressions of the two-day congress and exhibition as follows: “The entire exhibition area was packed with people at all times and this was the same for the conference.”

The lectures at BAU Congress China were well attended, each attracting an audience of between 300 and 500. Thematically the congress was divided into two parts: the first day concentrated on sustainable urban development, and the second on integrated planning and construction. The speakers were well known planners and architects from China and Europe. Using best-practice examples they set out their ideas for the Chinese city of the future. From Germany the speakers included Thomas Auer, Jürgen Engel and Stephan Schütz, and among the speakers from China were Wang Lu, Xu Tiantian andLiu Xiaodu. “It was a kind of German-Chinese exchange of experience at the very highest level,” commented Mirko Arend.

The speakers were delighted with the attendees. Each lecture attracted an audience of hundreds, and in some cases there were long lines of people outside a full congress hall. The kind of questions asked pointed to a high level of interest and expertise among the audience, many of whom were young people. “I think this was a fantastic event here today”, enthused Jürgen Engel, Head of KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten: “We hope that this international BAU Congress China, as a platform for experts and the building industry, will be the starting point for future-oriented cooperations and projects. If we combine our knowledge and experience, we are already capable of realising exemplary projects that can point the way forward to a more sustainable future and better quality life in the cities in China. Therefore, the BAU Congress China should be very successful next year as well.”

In the exhibition accompanying the congress, 42 companies from ten countries – 23 of them from Germany – put on their presentations on 1,500 square meters of exhibition space. Among them were many exhibitors from BAU, for example the door and gate manufacturer Hörmann, who was the official industrial partner of BAU Congress China. The excellent attendance and high level of interest on the part of the visitors ensured that the exhibitors, too, were very satisfied with the first BAU Congress China. “China needs high-end and good quality presentations like BAU Congress China,” explained Dirk Fell, Managing Director Asia Pacific from Hörmann. “The attendance is very good and the concept is excellent.” “Dieter Sichelschmidt, also, DORMA Area President, Asia-Pacific, Australia, made the decision for his company to take part in BAU Congress China based on the good reputation of BAU. “We are very selective about exhibitions in China, but it was absolutely necessary to join BAU Congress China when we heard it was coming. We are very happy to meet quite a lot of target clients who are looking for premium, high quality solutions, and we are satisfied with the result.”

The German Sustainable Building Council and the Fraunhofer Building Innovation Alliance – both close and long-standing partners of BAU in Munich – also contributed to this new project in China. Other partners in this first BAU Congress China were publishers Bauverlag and the Archi-Europe Group, with whom BAU has also been working closely for many years.

Testimonials of the exhibitors at BAU Congress China:

Dirk Fell, Managing Director Asia Pacific, Hörmann Beijing Trading Co., Ltd.

“First of all, we are extremely happy to participate in the first BAU Congress China. We have long-standing relation with BAU in Germany as one of the biggest participants. We’re very happy BAU is coming to China. For us, it’s a very good opportunity to not only present our products but also to present the outlook into the future of Chinese market. Being the industry partner of BAU Congress China, we got more exposure to the market and the participants of the congress. China needs high-end good quality presentations like BAU Congress China. The attendance is very good and the concept is excellent.”

Dieter Sichelschmidt, DORMA Area President, Asia-Pacific, Australia:

“We have participated in BAU Munich for a very long time.  We are very selective about exhibitions in China, but it was absolutely necessary to join BAU Congress China when we heard it was coming.  We are very happy to meet quite a lot of target clients who are looking for premium, high quality solutions, and we are satisfied with the result.  It is a good strategy to start with congress for BAU China.”

Wen Xiao, General Manager, GEZE Industries (Tianjin) Co., Ltd.

“We are delighted to present at the BAU Congress China. Such a high-end building event offers us a lot. We learn much from the advanced technologies and concepts BAU Congress China brings here. I am excited about the architects and designers we meet. The entry of BAU into China as a conference plus exhibition is a very good start. I truly hope BAU will grow better and better. We can also use such a great platform to make contributions to the industry.”

Andy Wang, General Manager, Jansen Shanghai Representative Office

“We thank the organizers for an event of such high quality. We have met a lot of high-quality visitors today. We are confident in the BAU brand, which is the main reason of our participation. We are a loyal customer of BAU and have released many forward-looking conceptual products at BAU Munich in the past. We hope it can usher high-quality brands into the Chinese market to build a leading trade show for China together.”

Further testimonials from participants in BAU Congress China are gathered together in the press release on “Participants’ Testimonials”.

The next BAU Congress China takes place in June 2015.

Further information: www.bauchina.com