UK construction events 2027

Seven useful UK industry dates are already confirmed for 2027. The first is in February, the main construction and utilities run lands in May and June, and two food-sector events are fixed for April. Solar & Storage Live London has also published an April date, but its own page currently contains a date conflict, so treat that one as a provisional diary hold.

Last checked: 30 August 2026. A date is listed as confirmed only where the organiser currently publishes both the 2027 date and venue. Programmes, visitor registration and ticket terms can still change, so check the linked organiser page before booking travel.

The confirmed 2027 calendar

Date	Event	Venue	Current status	Best for
10-11 Feb	Executive Hire Show	CBS Arena, Coventry	Dates and venue confirmed	Plant and tool hire
18 Mar	Cold Chain Climate & Energy Summit	The Slate, University of Warwick	Save the date	Cold storage and energy
5-7 Apr	IFE Manufacturing	ExCeL London	Dates and venue confirmed	Food manufacturing clients
12-14 Apr	Food & Drink Expo	NEC Birmingham	Dates and venue confirmed	Food-sector buyers
14-15 Apr*	Solar & Storage Live London	ExCeL London	Date conflict on organiser page	Solar and energy storage
11-13 May	UK Construction Week London	ExCeL London	Dates and venue confirmed	Construction supply chain
25-26 May	Utility Week Live	NEC Birmingham	Register interest	Water, energy and utilities
22-24 Jun	PlantWorx	NEC Birmingham	Dates and venue confirmed	Live plant and equipment

*The event header gives 14-15 April, while the series list lower on the same organiser page gives 13-14 April. Hold the period provisionally and verify the exact dates before booking travel.

Plant and equipment dates

Executive Hire Show

Dates: 10-11 February 2027, CBS Arena, Coventry.

The Executive Hire Show is aimed at plant and tool hire businesses rather than general construction buyers. The 2027 event is its 20th anniversary, and the organiser lists free entry, parking and an early breakfast for visitors.

For a contractor, the value is operational: compact plant, power, access, welfare, attachments and hire-fleet relationships. It is less useful if the only objective is meeting main-contractor procurement teams. Send the person who decides what the business hires, buys or standardises, not a general business-development attendee.

PlantWorx

Dates: 22-24 June 2027, NEC Birmingham, Halls 17-20 and the outside area.

PlantWorx is the more direct construction-equipment date. The organiser is planning live demonstrations, 300+ exhibitors and an audience of 12,000+ construction professionals. The NEC format combines indoor halls with an outside demonstration area rather than a display-only format.

This is the better event for operations directors, plant managers and site teams comparing excavators, compaction equipment, attachments, safety systems and construction technology. It can also be useful for finding smaller suppliers that do not appear at general business conferences.

Food manufacturing and cold storage

Cold Chain Climate & Energy Summit

Date: 18 March 2027, The Slate, University of Warwick.

The Cold Chain Federation has confirmed the date and venue as part of its 2027 save-the-date list. It will include the Cold Chain Sustainability Awards. A detailed programme and ticket information were not published when this guide was checked.

This is not a general construction exhibition. Its value is sector context: energy demand, refrigeration, storage resilience and the investment priorities of temperature-controlled operators. Contractors with relevant cold-store, yard, drainage or industrial-floor experience should treat it as a focused client-sector event.

IFE Manufacturing

Dates: 5-7 April 2027, ExCeL London.

IFE Manufacturing sits within Food, Drink & Hospitality Week. The organiser says registration will open in January 2027 and remain free until 4 April. It is an industry-only event for professionals and buyers in food manufacturing, supply, distribution, foodservice and hospitality.

The useful conversations for a civils contractor are not about construction products. They are about factory investment, line changes, extensions, drainage, yards, utilities and the practical constraints around live food-production sites. Go with relevant project evidence rather than a generic groundworks pitch.

Food & Drink Expo

Dates: 12-14 April 2027, NEC Birmingham.

Food & Drink Expo follows one week after IFE Manufacturing and reaches a wider retail, wholesale, foodservice and manufacturing audience. The organiser has confirmed the venue and opening dates, but visitor registration is not yet the reason to choose between the two.

If the target is manufacturing engineering, IFE is the more focused option. If the target is a broader range of food businesses and growth plans, the Birmingham show may be more useful. Attending both without a clear contact plan will probably produce the same conversations twice.

Renewable energy

Solar & Storage Live London

Provisional diary hold: 14-15 April 2027, ExCeL London.

The dedicated event header gives 14-15 April at ExCeL, but the event-series list lower on the same page still gives 13-14 April. The venue and mid-April timing are clear, but the exact dates need another check before travel is booked. The organiser’s programme covers the design, installation and operation of residential, commercial and industrial, and utility-scale solar and storage projects.

For a civils contractor, the relevant conversations are around enabling works, access, compounds, cable routes, ducting, drainage and equipment bases. It is a better fit for teams pursuing renewable-energy infrastructure than a general building exhibition. Do not confuse it with Solar & Storage Live UK in Birmingham, whose 2027 dates had not been published when this guide was checked.

Construction and utilities

UK Construction Week London

Dates: 11-13 May 2027, ExCeL London.

UK Construction Week has confirmed that its London event will return alongside Futurebuild and the Stone & Surfaces Show. The organiser is already taking 2027 exhibitor enquiries. Visitor registration and the detailed programme are still to come.

For subcontractors, the useful part is the business connection programme, supplier discussions and any bookable buyer meetings, not trying to sit through every stage. Wait for the 2027 networking details, then build the day around named people and relevant packages.

Utility Week Live

Dates: 25-26 May 2027, NEC Birmingham.

This is one of the strongest confirmed dates for civils businesses working around water, power and network infrastructure. The 2027 plan includes dedicated zones for capital projects, clean power, environment, asset management, workforce, customer and digital systems. The capital-projects zone explicitly covers civil engineering, construction, streetworks, reinstatement, plant and project delivery.

Registration is not open yet, but the organiser is accepting expressions of interest. For firms involved in utility connections, drainage, ducting, substations or network enabling works, this deserves an early diary hold.

Dates that are not confirmed yet

Several names from the 2026 construction events calendar do not yet have an official 2027 date. As of 30 August 2026, that includes:

That does not mean those events are cancelled or will not run. It means the organisers are not yet publishing a confirmed 2027 date on the pages checked for this guide. Do not copy a previous year’s week into the diary and call it confirmed.

Hillhead is not missing from the list by accident. It is a biennial show, and its organiser describes the event as running every other year. After the June 2026 edition, PlantWorx is the confirmed major live-equipment date in 2027.

Which four dates should a contractor hold?

If the business cannot justify every trip, choose by objective:

For plant decisions: Executive Hire Show if the focus is hire-fleet relationships and compact equipment; PlantWorx if the team wants live construction machinery and a broader equipment field.

For construction business development: UK Construction Week London, subject to the buyer and networking programme matching the trades and regions you want.

For utilities and energy: Utility Week Live is the stronger network-infrastructure date; Solar & Storage Live London is the more direct route into renewable-energy developers, installers and asset owners.

For a specialist client sector: Pick IFE Manufacturing, Food & Drink Expo or the Cold Chain Climate & Energy Summit according to the clients already in the pipeline. Sector relevance beats attendance numbers.

What to do before registration opens

Put the dates in the diary as provisional holds, not non-refundable travel bookings. Then set a reminder for six to eight weeks before each event and check four things:

Is visitor registration open, and what does the ticket actually include?
Which buyers, exhibitors or speakers are confirmed?
Are one-to-one meetings or round tables bookable in advance?
Who from your business is the right person to attend for that objective?

The event itself is only the introduction. The commercial value still comes from a relevant conversation, a clear capabilities summary and a follow-up while the discussion is fresh.

This is an early 2027 calendar, not a finished annual list. Rospower Projects will update it as organisers confirm the autumn shows and regional meet-the-buyer dates.

Connor Lyons is commercial director at Rospower Projects, MRICS. We deliver groundworks, drainage, utilities and external works packages for industrial, commercial and infrastructure clients across the UK. Contact us to discuss a planned package.