Cityscape Pre-show

Aedas may have some interesting days ahead
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Without putting too fine a point on it, Cityscape Dubai is the most important event for the building sector in the Middle East. Cityscape is the world’s largest international B2B real estate investment and development exhibition and attracts professionals from every sector of the building cycle.

Last year’s event saw 81,162 visitors from 156 countries over the course of five days and saw more than 950 exhibitors from 37 countries. Despite the economic downturn, those numbers are expected to increase this year. In fact, murmurs in the industry have begun to suggest that Cityscape’s 2009 version might be the first trade show in the Middle East to eclipse 100,000 visitors.

With this in mind, ARCHITECT brings you 10 reasons you should attend Cityscape 2009 and, while you’re there, 10 companies you can’t afford to miss.

10 Reasons you need to attend Cityscape

1. Donald Trump Jr is giving the keynote address. Love the Trumps or hate them, Jr is the Executive VP of the entire Trump Organisation so he must have something to offer. Apparently, he’s planning to present his regional forecast and quick fixes for 2010.

2. 92% of 2008’s 81,000+ visitors plan to visit again in 2009.

3. World Architecture Congress With liquidity gone and project development on pause, architects around the world are asking themselves the same question: What can architecture practices do to survive the recession?

4. 88% of 2008 visitors considered Cityscape to be “highly productive”.

5. Facilities & Asset Management Conference Learn the key strategies and methods you can implement to ensure you minimise energy use and reduce costs at your facility.

6. 156 The number of countries from which 2008 visitors originated.

7. 81% of 2008 exhibitors stated that Cityscape was vital to their marketing strategy for the coming year.

8. Green Day, taking place on October 7, is a forum in which panelists will debate the critical challenges to eco-friendly building and, together with the audience, come up with vital solutions that need to be implemented if the region is to truly to fulfill the promise of a sustainable future.

9. 96% of visitors from 2008 recommended exhibiting in 2009.

10. 17% and 16% Percentages of investors and developers who visited Cityscape 2008. Numbers that are looking like they’ll be duplicated in 2009.

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1.Modelcraft Physical models are crucial to winning those big contracts and of all the practitioners out there, these guys seem to be the best of the bunch.

2. Al Ain Municipality They’ve announced their massive master plan (Al Ain 2015) but they’ve still not appointed lead architects. They’ll be looking!

3. Aedas The mood at this stand will depend greatly on how the launch of Dubai metro goes in early September. They’ll either be scrambling for answers or enjoying the attention and fervour.

4.Tabanlioglu Architects Winners of architecture awards year in and year out, it’s time to start paying attention to what this Turkish firm is doing right.

5. Taiyo Middle East For cost, climate and lifespan, tensile material is unparalleled in architecture. In fact, several types of self-cleaning tensile is being installed in Dubai’s own Sports City.

6.Parsons International Leading landscape architecture firm. Perfect contact for contractors & developers looking to add value to large-scale projects by beautifying ‘the space between’.

7. Gerry O’Leary Photography Gerry is an incredibly talented architectural photographer. He’s produced some stunning images for industry big wigs KEO, Norr and RMJM to name a few.

8. Municipality of Pristina Has Kosovo become the new Kazakhstan? Perhaps they’ve come upon loads of money and have big plans for development...

9.TDIC Abu Dhabi This government body is forever announcing large-scale plans that require new architects & engineers. 2010 should be no different.

10.Aya Global If physical models are crucial, digital ones are the future. Aya’s photo-real renditions are eerily realistic. Easily the best in the business.