Make the Right Connections at UKCW Birmingham: Build Connect Lounge, Construction & Supply Chain Exchange Pavilion and More
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The best events don’t just give you things to see. They put you in the room with the people you need to meet.
When UK Construction Week Birmingham returns to the NEC from 29 September to 1 October 2026, professionals from across construction and the built environment will come together to exchange ideas, find solutions, build partnerships and start conversations that could shape their next project.
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And with networking built into the programme throughout all three days, there are more opportunities than ever to turn a visit into valuable new connections.
From meeting major buyers with live and upcoming projects to joining focused workshops, exchanging ideas with industry peers and celebrating the people driving change, here’s how to make the most of the networking opportunities at UK Construction Week Birmingham.
Get around the table at the Build Connect Lounge
New and improved for 2026, the Build Connect Lounge takes networking beyond exchanging business cards.
Across the show, leading organisations from across the built environment will host interactive workshops, facilitated discussions and focused networking sessions designed to bring people together around shared challenges, ideas and opportunities.
It’s a space to contribute, ask questions, exchange expertise and make connections with people facing many of the same challenges as you.
Women in Construction Hub Connect
29 September | 10:30–11:30 | Build Connect Lounge
Opening the programme, Design & Build UK, in partnership with the WIC Hub, will bring together women from across construction for an interactive networking experience.
Rather than traditional introductions, participants will connect through conversation and collaboration, creating an opportunity to expand their networks while working through some of the real challenges facing the sector.
Women Building the Reset
29 September | 11:45–12:45 | Build Connect Lounge
Women Building the Reset is a facilitated networking experience bringing women from across construction together for focused conversations about the changes our industry needs.
Through structured conversations and rotating roundtables, participants will explore four areas central to construction’s future: the workforce, how we build, responsibility and the rules of the game.
It’s an opportunity to move beyond surface-level networking, share experiences and perspectives, hear how others are approaching common challenges and build new relationships with women from across the built environment.
Recovery or Illusion? What the Market Data Really Says
29 September | 14:00–15:00 | Build Connect Lounge
Has construction really started to recover, and if so, who is actually feeling it?
Barbour ABI will put the latest market data in front of the room to examine what sits behind the national headlines. Its figures show contract award volume rising 2.9% in the first half of 2026, the first increase in three years, but the picture changes considerably when looking at individual regions, sectors and contract sizes.
While the market has stabilised, recovery is far from evenly distributed. Smaller contract awards have fallen significantly compared with 2023, while schemes worth more than £100m now account for a much greater share of overall value. Infrastructure is also playing a major role in supporting national figures, masking a different picture across other parts of construction.
This interactive session will dig beneath the averages to explore where opportunities are emerging, which parts of the market remain under pressure and who the apparent stabilisation is actually reaching.
Rather than simply presenting the numbers, Barbour ABI will bring the data into the conversation, giving attendees the opportunity to examine what current market conditions mean for their own sectors, regions and businesses.
CIOB Networking
30 September | 10:30–11:30 | Build Connect Lounge
The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) will take over the Lounge on Wednesday morning, creating another opportunity for professionals from across the industry to meet, exchange ideas and grow their networks.
Whether you’re looking to reconnect with familiar faces or meet people outside your usual circle, make time in your morning to stop by and start a conversation.
From Good Ideas to Real-World Impact
30 September | 11:45–12:45 | Build Connect Lounge
What do innovators need from the sector, and what does the built environment need from innovators?
That question will be at the heart of an interactive session from Constructive Pioneers, a recently launched initiative helping promising ideas in the built environment achieve meaningful social impact.
Great ideas alone rarely create change. They need the right expertise, connections, resources and opportunities to develop, be tested and ultimately reach the people and places that could benefit from them.
From Good Ideas to Real-World Impact will bring innovators and industry together to explore that journey.
The discussion will look at what innovators need from established organisations to move forward, what the sector needs from innovators and how the industry can become better at identifying promising concepts and helping them progress towards adoption at scale.
It will also explore the barriers that can prevent innovation from gaining traction and how bringing together the right people from across the built environment and its wider value chain can help turn promising ideas into practical action.
This isn’t a session where attendees simply sit and listen. Participants will be encouraged to share their experiences, challenge established approaches and contribute their perspective on what needs to change.
Whether you’re developing a new solution, looking for innovation within your organisation or simply believe the built environment can find better ways of doing things, join the conversation, share your perspective and help shape what happens next.
Meet the buyers behind live and upcoming projects
Networking at UK Construction Week can also lead directly to new commercial conversations.
The Construction & Supply Chain Exchange Pavilion, in partnership with Find It In Birmingham, will bring buyers, clients and procurement organisations with live and upcoming projects directly onto the show floor.
Visitors will have the opportunity to connect with leading organisations including Procurement Hub, West Midlands Combined Authority, Morgan Sindall, Sisk, Galliford Try, JT Lifestyle Homes and Find It In Birmingham, alongside other organisations from across construction and the public sector.
The Pavilion is designed to make procurement conversations easier, giving businesses the opportunity to understand what major organisations are looking for, learn more about their project pipelines and discuss where their products, services and capabilities could fit.
Whether you’re looking to meet new clients, understand procurement priorities or get your business in front of organisations delivering major projects, make the Construction & Supply Chain Exchange Pavilion part of your visit.
Connect with the people shaping construction’s future
Networking isn’t only about finding the next contract. It’s also about meeting the people challenging the industry to think and work differently.
On Tuesday 29 September, the UKCW Role Models Awards 2026 will bring the UKCW community together on The Construction RESET Stage to recognise those making a difference across construction.
At 13:30, Reshaping the Future: Leadership Stories from UKCW Role Models will bring previous Role Models together to share their experiences, perspectives on leadership and lessons from their careers.
This will be followed at 14:15 by the UKCW Role Models Awards Ceremony, celebrating this year’s Rising Star, Pioneer and Icon and recognising the innovators, problem-solvers and changemakers helping to move the industry forward.
And the conversation continues.
At 15:00, the Women in Construction Panel, Meet Up and Networking, hosted by Design & Build UK, will bring leading voices together to discuss their experiences before opening up another opportunity to meet and connect with professionals from across the industry.
Make the right connections at UK Construction Week Birmingham
With three days of UK Construction Week Birmingham, the most valuable conversation you have at the NEC could be one you haven’t planned yet.
Make time for the Build Connect Lounge. Meet the buyers behind live and upcoming projects at the Construction & Supply Chain Exchange Pavilion. Join the Role Models community. And leave room in your diary for the conversations you weren’t expecting.
Because UK Construction Week Birmingham isn’t only about what you see on the show floor. It’s about who you meet, what you learn from each other and what those conversations could lead to next.
29 September – 1 October 2026 | NEC Birmingham
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