Evolving Concrete Show

Last week I popped in to see the newest London concrete-centric exhibition, Evolving Concrete. This was held in the Business Design Centre in Islington so it was relatively easy to reach (being that I am based in London).

What was nice about this one was that it was being put on by the Concrete Society itself rather than an 'events organisation'. So it was conceived with the specific needs of the industry in mind.

It was a fairly small affair - the picture above more or less shows the extent of it. However I did speak to some interesting exhibitors about various aspects of concrete and particularly, as the name would suggest, how concrete and its production is evolving. One of the most interesting nuggets of knowledge I picked up was about cement-free concrete which uses ground blast furnace slag in place of Portland cement plus a special additive. My second (but main) question was, "Does it react the same way to plasticisers, retarders and other admixtures?" - or in essence, is it just as easy to create a batch to send through a concrete pump? According to the gentleman I spoke to, the answer was 'yes'.

The main thing lacking from the show was the big machines you normally see at these things. It was clearly not possible to put a large mobile concrete pump or batching plant on the floor of this particular exhibition space and the only large piece of kit was parked outside across from the entrance.

I think it is good to have a concrete specific show in London - there are certainly a lot of people in the industry working close by. Although it certainly wasn't packed when I was there, which was around the middle of the day on Wednesday.  It was suggested that many people would turn up later in the afternoon when they had finished on their various building sites.

Perhaps the next one will evolve to be at a venue with more scope for larger equipment as well...