It was difficult to know what kind of atmosphere to expect at this year鈥檚 . On the one hand, schools have been the construction industry鈥檚 saviour over the past year, in the face of meltdown in just about every other sector. But on the other, the likelihood of a change of government and unspecified cuts in spending in a few months鈥� time means that the market is the least certain it鈥檚 been in about a decade, and construction firms could be forgiven for turning their attention elsewhere.

That they haven鈥檛 was in ample evidence at the conference, which had 10% more visitors than the previous year. Interestingly, a large contingent of these seemed to be from the north 鈥� proving, perhaps, that the move to a larger venue in London hasn鈥檛 dampened enthusiasm from that part of the country. Either that, or if you鈥檝e been braving snow and ice in Cumbria for the last four months, a trip to the Excel centre has more in common with a holiday than simply its aircraft hangar-like appearance.

The real buzz amongst the delegates was for networking: with a 15-month lead in on many schools projects, the view seemed to be that regardless of who gets into power, for the next year at least there are plenty of deals there for the taking. I had slightly more freedom to observe these conversations than usual owing to the dubious pleasure of being presented with a maintenance badge rather than a press pass, which meant people didn鈥檛 silence their talk quite as quickly as they usually do when I approached. 鈥淚鈥檝e been walking the aisles in rotation for two hours,鈥� admitted one delegate, after I鈥檇 owned up to the fact I couldn鈥檛 fix a plug if you paid me. 鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping to get a decent amount of work just out of this morning.鈥�

The looming spectre of an election, if anything, seemed to have galvanised delegates to prove that the UK鈥檚 school building industry really does have something to offer education. 好色先生TV鈥檚 Charter 284 campaign went down well with the audience (for all those who requested an explanation of the figures, and were not fobbed off with a cheery wave and a copy of the magazine, do get in touch now I have a calculator in front of me.)

And, perhaps more importantly, the industry demonstrated it still has a huge willingness to learn, and to adapt its work to suit both straitened times and evolving educational practice. Nowhere was this better proven than by the huge interest in the , which pulled together wonderful examples of innovative school design and refurbishment from Denmark. And if anyone suggests any part of that interest was due to a neighbouring stand giving out free ice cream, well, I just don鈥檛 buy it.

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