That was it – our zusammen.bauen trade fair
25,000 m² of indoor and outdoor exhibition space, more than 1,500 registered specialist contractors, 500 representatives of industry partners and around 350 employees from branches across Germany: The premiere of the wego vti Expert Trade Fair 2025 in Kelsterbach near Frankfurt sent an impressive signal from the drywall and interior fit-out sector to the German market.
“This is not an in-house trade fair,” explained Alfons Horn, Chairman of the Management Board of wego vti, in his welcome address—and anyone who entered the huge hall at the new wego vti site in Kelsterbach had to agree. “This is a neutral platform for drywall and interior fit-out in Germany, which we want to establish over the coming years as a permanent fixture in our industry,” Horn continued, “because such a forum is urgently needed, now that we barely feature at BAU in Munich anymore.” Gavin Slark, CEO of wego vti’s parent company SIG plc., emphasised in his welcome statement the importance of such a major event as a strong signal of new momentum for an industry that is currently having to weather an economic downturn: “Especially now, it is important to show confidence and to demonstrate our capacity for innovation and performance, as well as that of our partners on both the supplier and contractor sides. That is why we are doing this!”
Three suppliers honoured
For the first time in wego vti’s history, the company presented special awards to three of its suppliers on the evening before the Expert Trade Fair. The vote came from all branches in Germany, and the regional managers were independently very much in agreement on the winners. Alfons Horn, Gavin Slark and Christian Polstermüller, Head of Purchasing at wego vti, presented the wego vti Award 2024 to Protektorwerk Florenz Maisch GmbH & Co. KG for the “most innovative product system”, Deutsche Rockwool GmbH & Co.KG for the “best sales support” and Chemotechnik Abstatt GmbH for the “best lived partnership”.
Busy stands, strong private labels
How wego vti views “partnership” was underscored by the visual design of the exhibition hall, with the “zusammen.bauen.” logo prominently displayed. Alfons Horn: “This is not primarily about our company; rather, together we are sending a signal of unity within our industry, in which we—manufacturers, specialist distributors and specialist contractors—can make a difference, as you can see here.”
What this means in detail became clear in two ways over the two days of the trade fair: the compact stands of the 100 exhibitors were very busy, and the participating contractors took the opportunity for focused technical dialogue with industry experts and with those from wego vti across the various divisions. Consistently positive feedback from exhibitors: “100 percent target audience!” (Maurice Bonfrere, Saint Gobain Weber), “Our expectations were fully met!” (Rüdiger Vorndran, ETEX), “Very good, high-quality discussions!” (Patrick Weisenseel, Bachl) and “It was clearly worth exhibiting here!” (Wolfgang Limp, Lanxess). The wego vti private labels were strongly represented: wegofloor for flooring, wegoklima for innovative climate control systems, wegoakustik for effective sound absorption and wegopower for high-quality interior fit-out. The respective teams drew visitors to the stands with exciting competitions (Who can staple, drill, install the fastest?) and corresponding prizes.
Engaging lecture programme with a look to the future
The second focus was the lecture programme on the two stages, with topics covering the economic situation, the future of construction in general, technical innovations, and new standards and regulations and their impact on the industry. Marketing Manager Caroline Kilian: “We were able to bring in industry experts and scientists who shared concise specialist knowledge and a great deal of practical know-how that is genuinely useful to specialist contractors in their day-to-day work.”
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Henseler, Creative Managing Director at Sensory minds, took a look at the construction industry of the future, in which it will no longer be about product-oriented or customer-oriented thinking, but solely about customer-centric thinking—a “paradigm shift for the construction industry,” as he put it. The recipe for success in the future, he said, will not be to produce, store and then sell, but to ask customers what they want or need and produce accordingly. The ultimate benchmark is the customer’s wish: “Make me happy!” Henseler impressively demonstrated the ideas and concrete projects that major international corporations such as Tesla and Amazon are already working on in the fields of construction and modernisation. It is only a matter of time, he said, before their activities become noticeable in Europe and thus in Germany as well.
Martin Langen, Managing Director of B+L Marktdaten GmbH (Bonn), analysed the current construction-cycle situation and provided an outlook for the remainder of this year and for 2026. With regard to politics, he expressed confidence that the kick-start programmes for social housing construction would continue under the new government and would have a positive impact on construction activity. He is already seeing increases in construction orders (Nov 2024: +16.6% year-on-year) and a rise in building permits in December. 2024. Martin Langen expects mortgage interest rates to continue to fall, and as a result, greater determination among capital owners to invest in new builds and modernisation. The expert also sees serial construction and renovation continuing to be niche markets in the future, primarily because these production methods are only adopted very selectively by clients and investors. Martin Langen sees risks in the numerous insolvencies of property companies along the entire construction value chain. This development will certainly continue throughout 2025. Overall, in his assessment, the construction industry in Germany could increasingly decouple from the negative trend in the overall economy—also a positive signal for the interior fit-out trades in Germany.
1,800 guests at the “Après-Ski Event”
Between the two days of the trade fair, wego vti invited guests to a spectacular “Après-Ski Event”; around 1,800 guests came to the appropriately decorated “exhibition hall”. The welcome address at the evening event was delivered by Tim-Oliver Müller, Director General of the Federation of the German Construction Industry. His core message was that it is necessary to “bring the core competence of construction back into politics” and anchor it there sustainably. This is indispensable in view of the construction industry’s importance to the economy, and it remains everyone’s task—especially with a view to a new federal government.
wego vti is planning a new edition of the Expert Trade Fair in Germany for 2028. Gavin Slark and Alfons Horn also announced a similar event in France in 2026. Guests and exhibitors at the German premiere in Kelsterbach were unequivocal: “We’ll be back next time!”
