Passive houses are increasingly popular Courtesy of Buildgreen

Passive and intelligent building technology companies' stands attracted the greatest amount of attention among the 10,000 visitors at the recent Budma International Construction Fair and the accompanying WinDoor-tech, CBS and Glass trade fair.
The four-day exhibition featured more than 1,200 companies involved in the construction industry, a large number of whom offered passive and intelligent building technologies. According to exhibitors, the number of developers interested in using the latest advances in information technology to increase building efficiency and to cut expenditures continues to grow each year. Now, with a soon-to-be implemented government program that will subsidize passive and energy-efficient buildings, they are looking for a chance to save money and lure buyers with savings.

The program, which should be implemented later this year, offers up to zł.50,000 for those planning to build such homes on their land, and as much as zł.16,000 for buyers of apartments in such buildings. Developers are hoping to take a significant bite of the program's subsidy cake, which stands at some zł.300 million.

Visitors were particularly interested in a demo "autonomous building" that was erected in one of the fair halls. Autonomous buildings are designed to be operated independently from infrastructural support services such as the electric power grid, gas grid, municipal water systems, sewage treatment systems, storm drains, communication services, and in some cases, public roads. They are perceived by developers as the technology of the future.
As the event was accompanied by the Glass trade fair, there was also an exhibition of a building made almost entirely out of glass. Glass can be used as a heating material and was touted as easy-to-clean, sturdy and visually attractive. Glass can't compete in terms of price with wood or brick, but is becoming increasingly popular in Western countries.

As the theme of this year's fair was "Construction of the Future. Intelligent Architecture" the program of events focused on the presentation of intelligent design systems, efficient and low-energy technologies, innovative materials and building systems, as well as integrated control and modern building management.

"You can argue about buildings having a soul, but their intelligence is becoming more and more difficult to question," said Dariusz Muślewski, the director of the Budma fair.

Karolina Kowalska