Issue 3/2008


05/02/08

HELLAS LIFT integrated into OIKODOMI building exhibition

Athens, the capital of Greece, was populated around 5000 years ago. Of all the country’s cities, it is the most heavily populated and the largest in terms of surface area. This includes the whole of the greater metropolitan region of Athens rather than just the relatively small community which inhabits the city centre. Because of its cultural heritage, and because of its pivotal role as a turntable for traffic to and from the countless Greek islands through its Piräus sea port and newly constructed international airport, Athens is high up among the continent’s most frequently visited metropolises. Athens is also Greece’s most important economic, cultural and educational centre by a wide margin.
Category: Issue 3/2008
Posted by: Editor

The “Eleftherios Venizelos“ International Airport in Athens is Greece’s single largest centre for air traffic. It was inaugurated in 2001 and named after the Cretan politician and former Greek Minister President Eleftherios Venizelos (*1864 in Chania, † 1936 in Paris). Its official title is “Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos”. It is also known as Athens-Spata airport, due to its location in the urban district of Spata, which owns a 20 % share in the airport. The airport deals jointly with domestic and international flights, and has replaced the two terminals (domestic/ international flights) served by the former airport Athens-Hellinikon.

The former site of the now defunct Athens- Hellinikon airport now accommodates a trade fair centre, which was used to host this year’s HELLAS LIFT trade fair.
The Hellas Lift, which used to be staged every two years as a one-off event, has now been integrated into the yearly OIKODOMI building exhibition.
This move was prompted by the aim of offering Hellas Lift exhibitors the opportunity to forge contacts with some of the building industry’s large-scale technical corporations.
The Hellas Lift was formerly staged at the smaller E.K.E.P. Exhibition Center over three floors, which caused transportation and installation problems for many of the exhibitors, given the weight and size of their products.
This year, the exhibitors were spread over a total of seven halls at the Hellinico trade fair grounds. Hall 3 accommodated exclusively lift, component and control panel manufacturers. Specialist journals and exhibitors from the lift industry who could not be accommodated in Hall 3 were placed in the rear section of Hall 4. The other halls featured exhibitors from the fields of construction, building materials, marble, granite, paints and décor materials, windows, doors, kitchens, heating systems and air conditioning systems.
The trade fair opening hours were unusual by customary standards, with doors opening Wednesday to Friday from 4.00 p.m. to 9.00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 11.00 a.m. to 9.00 p.m. According to the organizers, opening for longer hours during the working week would not be worthwhile, as Greek employees would not be given time off to attend the exhibition.
As at any trade fair, the exhibitors were keen to establish new customer contacts and revive existing ones. Attendance was good but patchy, with free admission to the fair encouraging what appeared to be a large number of non-trade visitors. According to the trade fair organizers, a total of 64,000 visitors passed through the gate, of which 5,500 were there to specifically target the around 50 exhibitors from the lift sector.
Exhibitors in the lift and elevator section were almost exclusively Greek companies. Draka was the only non-Greek exhibitor with its own stand.
A number of Greek exhibiting companies were representing foreign producers, such as IGV and GMV from Italy, RAFI, Schaefer, Schmersal and Dätwyler from Germany.
All in all, the event may be hailed as a success for the Greek trade fair organizer interguide.
3/2008

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