Government Business

No other industry event offers such an opportunity to keep fully up-to-date by seeing all the machinery and equipment developments, technologies and management strategies for the effective maintenance and management of sports grounds and pitches, golf courses, local authority parks and playgrounds, stately homes, stadia, theme parks, country clubs, hotels and more.
    
Everything at IOG SALTEX is designed to make your life easier and more profitable, and it’s all on parade at Windsor Racecourse on 2-4 September.
    
This year’s show also features a not-to-be-missed series of free educational presentations and advice on the issues everyone’s talking about (‘Timely advice for open space management’), plus there’s a host of special feature areas designed to add value to the time spent by visitors at the show:

• The new AEA Live Machinery Demonstration Arena
• The new Ernest Doe Specialist Dealer Centre, featuring Acacia Groundcare Rental Equipment 
• The Sports Turf Skills Village
• The off-road ATV Course, in association with Honda 
• The new Landscape Village - featuring the finals of the World Skills
• UK Landscape Gardening Competition
• The World of Arboriculture.    
  

As can be seen, there’s a product showcase for every sector of the open space management industry, highlighting top suppliers and all the top brands, and much of the machinery and equipment is also available for demonstration. ­

Facilitating your visit
­This year the organisers are making it even easier for visitors to include the show in their busy diaries with the introduction of one-day extended opening hours (until 7 pm on Wednesday 3 September) and a ‘round the show’ Roadtrain service to save some legwork at the expansive showground.
    
The myriad of companies at IOG SALTEX offer everything ever needed to ensure your job is made more effective and efficient, guaranteeing that the show is Europe’s only event that enables all open space professionals of every discipline to identify, discuss and source the equipment, technologies and skills required to overcome the demands they meet on a day-to-day basis.

Informative seminars
With informative seminar sessions planned for arborists, groundsmen and open space management professionals including landscapers and play officers, this year’s IOG SALTEX education programme taking place in The Grandstand at Windsor Racecourse on 2-4 September promises to provide the latest updates on all the issues that count, in presentations from some of the leading names in the industry. And it’s all free.
    
In addition, a special series of football-related presentations includes a trio of exclusive seminars that will intrigue every soccer-related grounds care professional:

• Artificial surfaces – the real story – results presented by Dr Iain James of Cranfield University into a just-completed three-year research project
• The FA strategy, revealed by Nigel Hargreaves 
• Matt Frost, head groundsman at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, describes how he prepared for the Champions League Final.
  

With daily presentations by Davo Ruthven-Stuart of the ever-popular personal development workshops, the IOG SALTEX education programme also provides updates on hand-arm vibration risk management, by Peter Wilson of the Industrial Noise and Vibration Centre; trends in nutritional turf management programmes by Stuart Staples of Scotts; and tree management best-practice by the Arboricultural Association.
    
There will also be a daily focus on playground equipment and surfacing in line with changes to BS EN 1176/77. Keith Dalton of the Register of Play Inspections International, Rob Davies of Wicksteed Leisure and Peter Heseltine of the Play Inspection Company will share these presentations.
    
Stuart Douglas from Play England will explain the implications of the National Strategy for Play, Proludic’s Kristina Hinks will outline ‘innovation in consultation for playground design’, and a speaker from Record RSS will help delegates investigate play inspection.

Word Skills UK
The IOG SALTEX open space management show will again host the annual World Skills UK Landscape Gardening (formerly the Skills Challenge Landscape Skills Competition) final.
    
Organised by BALI (the British Association of Landscape Industries) on behalf of UK Skills, the final will involve four teams of two people plus one helper tasked to complete a pre-determined seven metres by seven metres landscape garden project, from scratch, during the three-day show.
    
The winners from this year’s show will compete alongside the 2007 winning team from Sparsholt College, Hampshire, for the opportunity to progress to WorldSkills 2009 in Calgary, Canada or WorldSkills 2011, London.
    
Commenting, BALI chief executive Sandra Loton-Jones says: "There’s no doubt that IOG SALTEX is the ideal venue for the annual final – you only have to witness how many people actually stop and take a great interest in the fabulous designs these youngsters achieve at the show.
    
“In addition, the competition at Windsor is the perfect platform for BALI and the exhibition organisers, the Institute of Groundsmanship (IOG), to demonstrate the industry’s commitment to skills development.”
    
Geoff Webb, IOG chief executive, says: “The continued presence of the Landscape Gardening final at IOG SALTEX reflects BALI’s conviction that the show is the UK’s premier event for open space professionals, and it is an invaluable feature of our recently-launched Landscape Village.
    
“Importantly, too, BALI will also be playing a key role in the show’s education programme by organising presentations on the new National Highways Sector Scheme 18 ‘for quality management in highway works’ legislation. The new regulations will impact everyone involved in providing services relating to the environment and landscape, so visitors will have an excellent opportunity to gain up-to-date and pertinent advice and help from the experts on this critical issue.”
    
As well as launching the National Highways Sector Scheme 18 for the Environment and Landscape sector at a special event on Wednesday 3 September at 11.30, BALI – the British Association of Landscape Industries – will be staging a special daily presentation in the seminar room where Neil Huck, technical director BALI, and Tony Sangwine from the Highways Agency will be sharing the stage.

For more information
To be part of this unmissable experience, register now at www.iogsaltex.co.uk to receive your free entry badge and information about IOG SALTEX, or call the Ticket Hotline for free tickets on 0844 557 2724.