Munich's international trade fair BAU gets a spin-off in Shanghai

By acquiring “FENESTRATION CHINA” through its subsidiary Messe München Shanghai, Messe München has made its largest investment in the company's history.

In the future, the exhibition will constitute the core of the new FENESTRATION BAU China, and other segments from BAU in Munich will also be added.

This move strengthens BAU's position in China, the most important construction market in the world. The first Fenestration BAU China will take place in Shanghai from November 7–10, 2017. BAU Congress China will be part of this event and reinforce it from the outset.

For Klaus Dittrich, CEO of Messe München, the acquiring FENESTRATION CHINA (FC) is another important milestone in the Messe München internationalization strategy.

Dr. Reinhard Pfeiffer, the Managing Director at Messe München who is responsible for BAU and the BAU cluster, feels that the new trade show in Shanghai has good growth potential:

"We are proud of the fact that BAU in Munich has developed into the world's largest trade fair for architecture and building materials.

Acquiring a majority share of the most important exhibition for windows and facades in China gives us a chance to establish a trade show with a format that is similar to that of BAU in Munich in the largest construction market in the world.

The show will focus on sustainability and quality during planning and construction. And it will be modeled after BAU in Munich. Together with founder Cathy Peng and her team, the show will be expanded by adding segments for roof elements, building automation and insulation materials."

Cathy Peng, General Manager, Beijing International UnionExpo Co., Ltd., is very pleased about the new partnership: “To us, merging with BAU was always the desired solution. Now FENESTRATION CHINA‘s quality standard can be effectively applied to several other relevant BAU sectors.”

For Martin Hörmann, Deputy Chairman of the Technical Advisory Board of BAU in Munich and industry partner to BAU Congress China, China is the perfect location:

“Due to its size alone, the Chinese market has the potential for a trade show on the scale of BAU. On top of that, the topic of quality, i.e. building with superior-quality, sustainable products, also plays an increasingly important role in China. In other words: Perfect prerequisites for establishing a trade show for corresponding products and system solutions.”

Thomas Utsch, Managing Director of Eduard Hueck GmbH, is pleased about the merger between BAU Congress China and FENESTRATION CHINA:

“We exhibit at FENESTRATION CHINA and have been active on the Chinese construction market for quite a while now. We have seen how demand for high-quality products has increased during the past few years.

The new FENESTRATION BAU China will feature other new segments that resemble the range of exhibits in Munich. That will result in an other increase in the quality and appeal of the exhibition.”

FENESTRATION CHINA was founded in 2003. When it was held in November 2016, it occupied 100,000 square meters of space and had more than 500 exhibitors.

More than 80,000 visitors gathered information about the latest window, door and facade elements. The exhibition takes place on an annual basis, alternating between Peking and Shanghai.

That rhythm corresponds to the needs of the rapidly growing Chinese construction market. The changing venue also takes the different requirements in the two regions into account.

FC is the perfect partner for further establishing BAU on the Chinese construction market. As the market leader in the segments for windows, doors and facades, FC covers sectors that contribute significantly to the Chinese construction industry's most important topics—building quality, energy efficiency and sustainability, and the renovation and modernization of buildings and entire neighborhoods—topics that are also the focus of BAU in Munich.

Furthermore, when it comes to the sectors for windows, doors and facades, all important Chinese companies as well as BAU and BCC's key accounts are already represented at FC.

BAU has been active on the Chinese construction market with BAU Congress China since 2014. The objective of BCC was to prepare BAU’s market entry into China and improve BAU's brand recognition there.

When it was last held in July 2016, BCC had more than 4,500 congress participants and 71 accompanying exhibitors. Instead of July 2017, BCC will be held in conjunction with FENESTRATION BAU China in November 2017.

Mirko Arend, Exhibition Director of BAU and BCC, feels that purchasing FC will benefit BCC’s exhibitors in a number of ways:

“Combining the BCC and FC to form Fenestration BAU China also guarantees new visitor groups for all exhibiting companies. Furthermore, it will also allow us to offer BCC’s exhibitors more affordable rental fees for space.”

The first Fenestration BAU China will take place at the Shanghai New International Exhibition Center (SNIEC) in Shanghai from November 7–10, 2017. The event will alternate between Shanghai and Beijing every year.

Additional information about Fenestration BAU China is available at www.fenestration.com.cn, www.bauchina.com and at www.facebook.com/bau-muenchen