The INDEX Qatar exhibition and conference concluded on Thursday following three days of bringing the world’s design and fit-out industry together in Qatar and hosting a thought leadership conference which focused on sustainability.
The exhibition attracted 4,500 attendees from across all sectors of Qatari society - from interior designers and architects to project managers, importers and distributors - across the full spectrum of retail, hospitality, residential and commercial design, as well as the general public. On each of the three days of the show, Design Talks provided cutting-edge educational content to the region’s design community. The conference discussed the latest trends and forecasts, with lively and spontaneous discussions with lots of audience interaction and dialogue.
Sustainability was a core theme of this year’s conference, with Wednesday featuring Amar Hromo, the Project Design Coordinator at Focus Design Partners who enlightened audiences by walking them through a case study on “Sustainability and efficiency in architecture: towards the world cup and towards the future with technology, sustainable design and innovation”. Dr Esam Elsarrag, CEO and Founder of the UK’s beGREEN Global then delivered a keynote on long-term opportunities and challenges in the sector.
The impact of the FIFA World Cup 2022 on the local design and fit-out market is significant, as Mr Hromo explained, "The market is booming with new technologies and design solutions: several have been specially developed for the 2022 World Cup. For example, the Bayt Line construction fabric was developed by the Serge Ferrari group in France and will be used on the New Al Bayt Stadium. As designers, we now have the opportunity to implement these unique solutions on non-World Cup projects too. "Moreover, Qatar has become a focal point for numerous global markets. Last year, Qatar Chamber recorded a 13.4% increase in the number of registered companies - with the total reaching almost 80,000. As designers in Qatar, it is up to us to establish how are we going to embrace these massive opportunities and how far will be able to innovate in our own projects."
Shahd El Mahdi, Interior Design Manager at ASTAD Project Management, spoke on value managing interiors, and Eric Broug, Founder of Broug Ateliers and The School of Islamic Geometric Design, gave a specialist talk on best practice in Islamic geometric design. Their keynotes followed on from the two previous days of panels and speakers, which included presentations from major Qatari developers Msheireb Properties, academics at Qatar Green Building Council and Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar, engineering firms, and international trade delegates from Turkey and Italy.
After a highly successful second year at INDEX Qatar, the exhibition plans to return to Doha in 2019, continuing its rapid growth from edition to edition. “We are thrilled to have delivered an event which exceeded our targets in 2018,” said Jaafar Shubber, INDEX Qatar event director. “Qatar continues to flourish in the build-up to hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022 and, in the longer-term, towards the continued execution of the Qatar National Vision 2030. The drive towards sustainability, and World Cup 2022, as well as the creativity seen across the interiors and wider construction industries in Qatar are inspiring. We hope our speakers, exhibitors, and visitors felt the value of the event, and are keen to be part of the INDEX community going into 2019.
“We aim to bring key stakeholders from all sides of the industry together at INDEX – from interior designers to import-export specialists – to do business, discuss market trends, and learn from each other, adapting models and practices to the new realities of doing business across the region. It’s an enormously exciting time to be involved, and the opportunities in Qatar are vast. We look forward to welcoming both old hands and first-time participants to the event next year.”
To learn more about the exhibition and conference, and to register to attend for 2019 visit www.index-qatar.com
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