NRW Green Building Services Companies on a Mission to London and Ecobuild 2011

Four German companies came to London for several packed days of visits, meetings, seminars and fact-finding - about the tremendous opportunities in the green building sector.

If there is one overriding lesson that I took away from these hectic days, accompanying these companies, it was that whilst newbuild might be the obvious market for energy efficiency, it is the need to retrofit the 80% of old housing stock that will be the mainstay of this sector. The other thing I learnt was that the word "Retrofit" had entered the English vocabulary and was here to stay!

The four companies covered smart control technology for housing; renovation and restoration and the aesthetic, green interiors. you can find out more about the visitors here.
The program was in five parts:

1. Seminars and talks by experts resident in the UK, giving an overview of the sector.
2. One to one meetings with other European companies through the European Enterprise Network.
3. Visiting EcoBuild 2011 in general and talking to selected companies in particular.
4. Site visits to retrofit sites within London.
5. Networking meetings with European and UK delegates over evening meals.

It was a packed program of 18h days that provided participants with an overview of the green construction sector - and with useful contacts.

Want to know what they learnt and how it was achieved? Well I'm afraid you should have been part of the mission! However, the articles and their links below will give some insight.

Find out more about the mission by following the links below

1. NRW Green Building Services Companies on a Mission to London & Ecobuild 2011
2. The People Leading the NRW Green Building Services Companies
3. Personal Impressions: EcoBuild
4. Retrofitting Existing Homes in the UK
5. Supporting the NRW Mission to London 2011, Green Building Services

NRW Mission Brochure at http://goo.gl/XbOOF

A project of NRW International.
Supported by the Ministry for Economic Affairs, Energy, Building, Housing and Transport of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Organised by Marie-Theres Luetje, Handwerkskammer Duesseldorf.
Realised by Mark Dodsworth & team, Europartnerships Ltd.