Afribuild 2005, to be held at the Sandton Convention Centre from September 17 to 19 next year, was launched earlier this month.

Guests included Jacky Mokgawa, Exhibitions for Africa account executive, officials from Gauteng's housing department and media representatives.

They were taken on a tour of refurbishment and innercity regeneration projects in Johannesburg.

Afribuild is being expanded to accommodate the local refurbishment market which, it is estimated, is now worth about R35bn a year.

In addition, it will accommodate a growing market for specialist facilities management services for all types of commercial, industrial and private property.

Meanwhile, Afriwater will open its doors as a standalone exhibition at Sandton Convention Centre between August 10 to 12 2005. In the ten years since its inception the show has grown to become the largest water, waste and environmental technology exhibition of its kind in SA.

Afriwater 2005 will showcase the best practices, achievements, innovative ideas and solutions emerging in the industry.

Three water-focused conferences will be held alongside the exhibition, with international and local experts sharing their knowledge in a series of plenary sessions, parallel sessions and workshops.

One is the International Water Association (IWA) diffuse pollution specialist conference (August 8 to 11). It will concentrate on international technologies and locally developed solutions to measure and manage the world's major pollution sources.

Another is an IWA regional conference on the sustainable management of residues emanating from water and wastewater treatment, from August 9 to 12, where the IWA's South African branch will hold a series of workshops related to water issues in the east and southern Africa region.

Willie Lotze, CEO of the Water Institute of SA, says: "We'll look at developments in cutting-edge technology and solutions and ideas that can be practically implemented for the benefit of communities."

A joint conference by the IWA sludge management specialist group and WISA anaerobic and sludge management division will focus on the sustainable management of organic and inorganic residues emanating from the treatment of water and wastewater domestic and industrial.

Business Day