HE Humaid Mohamed Obaid Al Qutami, Minister of Education, officially opens

The Office Exhibition, sponsored by Hewlett Packard, was inaugurated today by HE Humaid Mohamed Obaid AL Qutami, Minister of Education. Taking place at Dubai World Trade Centre, the exhibition will run from 9 to 11 February, 11am to 7pm each day, with free entry for visitors. The exhibition will feature over 250 companies and brands from around the globe showcasing everything from office furniture to the latest office technology.

The only exhibition of its kind in the Middle East, The Office Exhibition will occupy a space of over 15,000m2 . Split into four main sectors (technology, interiors, furniture and consultancy), the show features exhibitors from 25 countries, including USA, Italy, Spain, UK and Germany. They will be showcasing everything from high-end office chairs to storage wall systems, and acoustics to IT products and solutions.

New for 2010, The Office Awards provide an additional avenue for exhibitors to highlight their innovative products and designs, and cover a number of categories, including seating, files and storage, and tables. Sponsored by Bene and judged by Gensler, Cityscape, EMS and Reliance FM & Green Technologies amongst others, the Awards were presented to the winners today by Bernard Walsh, Managing Director of dmg world media. Two USA companies fared well, with Allsteel being awarded two Gold Awards (for Stride - Furniture Systems and Encircle – Lounge Seating) and a Silver Award (for Villi – Public Seating); and Izzy+ receiving three Silver Awards (for Dewey – Education, Olivia – Public Seating, and Eliott – Worksurfaces). Boss Design from the UK also scooped three awards, one Gold (for Kruze – Guest Seating) and Two Silver (for Lily – Task Seating, and Pegasus – Tables).

Another debut feature for this year’s show is The Future Office, which is a design collaboration between some of the leading companies in the region. It will provide a visionary look at the shape of the office in years to come, and will consider a work environment that optimises employee health, safety, motivation and productivity (otherwise known as the science of ergonomics).

This year’s show will also feature Office Talks, which will address some of the most important issues surrounding the commercial sector, such as sustainability, coping with tough market conditions and ergonomics. Speakers include Siddarth Peters, Managing Director of The Total Office, Nick Burnett, Design Director of Cityspace and Philp K. Mathew, Syndicated Research Manager at Ventures Middle East, who will be discussing commercial sector development within the GCC.

The now well-established Loft Student Design Competition will be another of this year’s attractions, thanks to sponsors Frezza SpA. Providing a great opportunity for upcoming local talent to demonstrate their skills within the design and architecture industry, students will be competing to design a meeting table or area, workstation, reception desk and office lamp. Winners of the much sought after award will win a week long trip to the design capital of Europe Italy, where they will be able to visit the famous international design fair in Milan, as well as visiting Frezza’s office in Venice where they will be able to get a real feel for how the company works.

Sinead Bridgett, Show Director, The Office Exhibition, said, “The Office Exhibition 2010 will truly be a one stop shop, bringing together key players from the commercial office design sector, in addition to leading technology companies. In addition to a fabulous show, our other new features, such as the Future Office, make The Office Exhibition a must attend event for anyone in the commercial sector.“Particular note goes to the winners of the first ever Office Awards. We were delighted with the success of this new feature, both in terms of quantity of applications and quality of products. I am confident that the winners will benefit from their involvement.”

Exhibitors include: The Total Office, Unifor, H2O Concepts, Knoll/Al Reyami, Archi Gaza, Impact Design International, Boss Design, The Office & Co, Rockworth, QED Advanced Systems, MECO, Point Export, Della Valentia Office, Sirianni, and CPU Holders 4 U.