World of Paving Event

LJN member Steven Callaghan of Marwood Events is organising the World of Paving - The first UK event totally dedicated to the Paving Industry.Aimed specifically at the installer / contractor, landscape architect and general specification market, and scheduled for February 10 - 11, 2010, at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry.The website, www.worldofpaving.com does a good job at setting out the general aim of the show, however a bit of insider info is that there are currently plans and discussions at Marwood Events to co-locate a Hard Landscaping Event alongside World of Paving.They wanted to create a show for paving rather than it simply being a sub-heading of a landscaping event or forming a tiny part of a very large show with a much wider remit thus being keen not to water down the effect.However, it is clear that many buyers (and, for that matter sellers) of paving are also buyers and sellers of hard landscaping products, particularly landscapers whom one could say pave as a part of their business rather than being a paving contractor per se for whom paving is their main business.It seems to us that a landscaping show alongside would work but that it should limit it's extent to the hard section of the business, leaving the horticultural side to shows like Four Oaks, Turf Management at Harrogate, etc.I think this is a great chance for LJ members to give our input as to what we as professionals in the trade would really want to see.So lets all give Steven our input.

Stuart, many thanks for that, the office had a good chuckle about heading for the bar/exit!

But it's a fair point for a show that wants to attract landscapers as well as dedicated pavers. I belong by background to the latter group (and I know enough about landscaping having done some for myself to know that I am not a competent landscaper!) and could quite happily spend the day looking at paving and networking but the appeal needs to be as broad as possible otherwise the show will look like Jewson's yard!

There will be things like resin bonded stone at the show plus live demos of this and other interesting overlay type systems like thin-top cementitious and decorative epoxies plus a range of genuinely interesting seminars and for the classroom style averse, toolbox talks on a range of subjects.

The Hard Landscaping Show would add the other aspects such as boys toys (who can resist an American BBQ), water features and buildings, et al hence the idea behind the co-location.

Stuart Marler said:

With regards to the WOP event, a paving show would be great but how far would one get before being bored stupid and plain crazy? How many paving stands could one see before needing the bar/exit?

If the show could be padded out with landscaping products as well, for instance natural stone supplier - gravels etc. resin suppliers (Sureset, PICS Bond etc.), brick suppliers, boys toys, water features, garden buildings, etc. this would extend the interest factor!

Stuart
TVG Landscaping

Replies

Jackson's Landscape Design April 13, 2009 at 5:50pm

Stuart

Should the price for a 30 sqm plot be justified, then we will be looking to display what is possible with the every day products we use with in our industry, with a little bit of imagination added

Will post here when we've recieved our reply

Kerry
Graeme @ BGS April 13, 2009 at 5:57pm

Agree with Stuart - Lots of boys’ toys and associated items to the patio / garden extensions such as Artificial Grass, Patio heaters (I know not very green and environmentally friendly) plus my personal favourite hot tubs / spas.
Graeme @ BGS April 13, 2009 at 9:27pm

I just think that WOP is going to be great - Kerry's work has inspired me to do more (starting on my own patio and drive way next year) so for someone like myself that usually subs out the hard landscaping stuff I think it will be a very useful event.
Richard Boyd April 14, 2009 at 9:49am

Excellent idea I hope that it is a very successful event. And good to see that it is not going to held in London!!!
PRO

Phil Voice April 14, 2009 at 10:16am

Just to let you know that I was contacted by Stephen a while back and asked if Landscape Juice would be interested in promoting and being involved with the World of Paving event.

As yet, nothing has been finalised but we are discussing the possibility that LJN will have its own stand at the event alongside Paving Expert and other industry representations.

If this goes ahead then I would attend so that we can promote this site even more.
Steven Callaghan April 14, 2009 at 4:18pm

Stuart, many thanks for that, the office had a good chuckle about heading for the bar/exit!

But it's a fair point for a show that wants to attract landscapers as well as dedicated pavers. I belong by background to the latter group (and I know enough about landscaping having done some for myself to know that I am not a competent landscaper!) and could quite happily spend the day looking at paving and networking but the appeal needs to be as broad as possible otherwise the show will look like Jewson's yard!

There will be things like resin bonded stone at the show plus live demos of this and other interesting overlay type systems like thin-top cementitious and decorative epoxies plus a range of genuinely interesting seminars and for the classroom style averse, toolbox talks on a range of subjects.

The Hard Landscaping Show would add the other aspects such as boys toys (who can resist an American BBQ), water features and buildings, et al hence the idea behind the co-location.

Stuart Marler said:
With regards to the WOP event, a paving show would be great but how far would one get before being bored stupid and plain crazy? How many paving stands could one see before needing the bar/exit?

If the show could be padded out with landscaping products as well, for instance natural stone supplier - gravels etc. resin suppliers (Sureset, PICS Bond etc.), brick suppliers, boys toys, water features, garden buildings, etc. this would extend the interest factor!

Stuart
TVG Landscaping
Steven Callaghan April 14, 2009 at 4:20pm

Thanks Richard.

The Ricoh Arena is just about as accessible as it gets in the UK being 2 hours by road for 75% of the population of England and with parking right outside the door of the venue for 2000 vehicles.

Best,
Steven
Marwood Events

Richard Boyd said:
Excellent idea I hope that it is a very successful event. And good to see that it is not going to held in London!!!
Steven Callaghan April 14, 2009 at 4:49pm

Very many thanks for your positive comments Graeme, and for starting this thread - it's a really great feature of an excellent site like LJ that we can actually build a show around what the trade actually wants.

As I've mentioned to Stuart, we feel that events need to have more going for them than just rows of paving stones, marvellous as they are, to make people feel like investing time and money in visiting a show.

CPD is playing an increasingly important role and a good range of seminars and talks not only creates interest but stimulates discussion and networking and the chance to see live demos of new products and systems I think is of particular interest - web based videos are fine but truth be told we all wonder how many takes were needed to get it right, there's nothing like seeing in it real life and getting feedback from other people in the same field.

Best,
Steven

BGS LTD said:
I just think that WOP is going to be great - Kerry's work has inspired me to do more (starting on my own patio and drive way next year) so for someone like myself that usually subs out the hard landscaping stuff I think it will be a very useful event.
Graeme @ BGS April 14, 2009 at 5:59pm

It would be nice to have the LJN stand as Phil has previously mentioned. Perhaps Phil will get a free stand for all the PR the site will generate for the event?

Would it be asking too much to have a discount at the bar for LJN members - just thinking of Stuart of course! :-)
claudia de yong April 14, 2009 at 6:21pm

Having been to many shows I actually think a more specialised show would be better than one that caters for everything again in the industry.Despite being female,I wouldn't get bored with just paving-oh dear,maybe I need help!!
I think the larger shows have lost the plot over the last few years.It is the same with garden centres.To stay in business they have had to cater for so many different tastes and provide a one stop shop for an outing.The problem with that is that as most are owned by large companies they seem to only go to the same shows to do their buying and end up selling the same things everywhere and most of it is dreadful.
There should be more dedicated trade shows for specific products that can be deemed 'different' and when looking for paving for example for work,I trawl the internet and display areas in yards and centres but it is hard work.What is presented at the main shows is relatively small and always the same big companies.