More than 20,000 people at Legno&Edilizia in Verona

The 8^th biennial, international Legno&Edilizia fair about the use of wood in construction took place at Verona Exhibition Centre from 14 to 17 March. More than 20,000 professional visitors from all over Italy and further afield came to see the latest offerings from 170 European companies in the exhibition and to take part in the four days of conventions, seminars and talks. The large number of visitors from all over Italy highlighted the great interest shown by the country’s market in this area of construction, which is growing despite the crisis. Its appeal was also underlined by the presence of figures such as the President of FederlegnoArredo Roberto Snaidero, the Deputy Chairman of the Italian National Board of Surveyors Franco Mazzocoli and the Veneto Regional Councillor for Foreign Trade Marino Finozzi. The figures show that 5,000 wooden homes were built in 2012 (+20%). By 2015, the volume of residential wooden constructions is expected to double. It will account for 12% of the new housing market, which has been suffering from serious stagnation for years.
The event gave prominence to a comprehensive range of the latest products from Austria, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Switzerland, including materials, wood, technology, software and machinery. There was also a packed schedule of sessions promoted by universities, associations and manufacturers. Of particular interest were: a three-day seminar by the leading Italian wooden construction expert Professor Franco Laner that was attended by 850 people and focused on the earthquake resistance of timber; a recreation of an experiment in Japan by the National Research Council of Italy’s Trees and Timber Institute, which showed how a 7-storey construction built by craft workers from Trentino using wood from the Fiemme Valley was able to stand up to 14 seismic events of the same magnitude as those that devastated the city of Kobe; the first Italian wooden window summit organized by Wood Window Italy; and an international convention on materials and tools for sustainable construction by Ecomake. There was also a Confartigianato conference on legally harvested timber, a talk on sustainable buildings by the Covenant of Mayors and another on quality, sustainability and health in wooden constructions by the Arca certification organization, as well as meetings by FederlegnoArredo and the sections associated with the sectors of the exhibition, not to mention numerous training courses.