MONTEGO BAY, St James — Following a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, the Jamaica Build Expo is set to return next year, according to conceptualiser Dwight Crawford.

According to Crawford, there has been an overwhelming demand for the event which attracted international and local exhibitors during previous stagings.

First staged at Montego Bay Convention Centre in 2017, the three-day building and construction expo and conference was last held in September 2019.

“Over 100 exhibitors have been calling in to find out if we intend to do it again. Yes, we intend to resume Build Expo because since it has stopped, due to COVID, we’ve seen a lot of infrastructural changes in the city space and the need for new technologies in Montego Bay,” Crawford told the Jamaica Observer.

“We intend to do it in a bigger and better way. We’re hoping that for next year we can do the Build Expo once more,” Crawford said.

“There’s always room for new technologies in construction and more economical ways to do things in the building space and that is the mandate of Build Expo — to provide better solutions, more economical ways of conducting construction,” he added.

The last staging of the event featured a mix of conference speakers, building practitioners and industry specialists, as well as the presentation of a one-bedroom studio apartment, constructed with hempcrete, to a lucky participant.

Hempcrete, a bio-composite material, is a mixture of hemp hurds and lime used for construction and insulation.

Crawford said he is looking forward to the event being considered among the best in the Caribbean in the near future.

“I declare that soon Build Expo will be ranked among the best building and construction expos in the region, filling hotel rooms with visitors and creating a buzz of activities for our local entrepreneurs,” Crawford said.