The smart place to be this April is at the NEC in Birmingham - from 10th to 13th April 2008, where The Smart Home Show, (which is part of The National Homebuilding & Renovating Show), will be bringing together all the latest trends in smart home solutions.

Smart Home technology means controlling the home environment in a way that enhances the way you live; it makes life more enjoyable, more comfortable, easier and more secure.

Whether you are looking for a multi-room entertainment system, integrated lighting to control the mood of every room, state-of-the-art security to protect you and your family, or you just want to chill out watching a favourite movie from the comfort of your bath - The Smart Home Show will help you find the right solution.

There will be major brands to choose from, with leading industry experts on hand to share their knowledge; with practical demonstrations, advice clinics and a daily programme of free specialist seminars.

A visit to the Show could mean a home equipped for the 21st century is within your reach - don’t miss out!

Tickets are £10 in advance or £14 on the door.

For more information and tickets, visit:

Web: http://www.homebuildingshow.co.uk

Tel: (0871) 945 4547

The 2008 National Homebuilding & Renovating Show at the NEC from 10 to 13 April is even bigger and better this year.

It also embraces The Smart Home Show and The Eco Homes Show; with three shows in one, this will be the hot property event for 2008.

NEW at the Show this year is the ‘Spotlight’ Feature Areas; there will be seven around the Show where you can get advice and information from independent experts on a one-to-one basis; informative handouts and detailed video overviews will be available to take away on specialist subjects.

The seven Spotlight feature areas are Building Systems, External Design, Eco Homes, Smart Homes, Heating and Plumbing, Internal Features, and Kitchens and Bathrooms.

The Eco Homes Show reflects the increasing demand for more information on eco products and services. The show will feature renewable energy, insulation, heating systems, building materials and energy saving products for the home.

The Smart Home Show is the UK’s premier consumer exhibition dedicated to integrated home technology, bringing to life the practical and affordable reality of smart home solutions; through a free, interactive programme of demonstrations, seminars, advice clinics and specialist exhibitors.

The Restoration Pavilion will also be a great source of inspiration on restoring period features or renovating a property.

As well as over 550 specialist exhibitors, the show offers an unparalleled series of free seminars and exhibitor-led master classes every day.

Tickets are £10 in advance or £14 on the door.

For more information and tickets visit:

Web: http://www.homebuildingshow.co.uk

Tel: (0871) 945 4547

The National Self Build & Renovation Centre is to host its second Self Build & Renovation Show at the Renovation Centre, just off Junction 16 of the M4 next month, (Thursday 6th – Sunday 9th March 2008).

The show is offering a unique practical learning experience for anyone interested in building their dream home.

With a shortage of the right kind of affordable homes and uncertainty in the existing property market, ‘doing it yourself’, whether self building or renovating, to create a home that is compatible with individual lifestyles’ is becoming more appealing and is a very realistic option for many people looking to get on, or move up, the property ladder.

• This year’s show offers visitors:
  Lots of instructive seminars; product demonstrations, and presentations.
• Visitors can get to grips with a selection of the newest technical gadgets, professional tools and accessories from leading suppliers, including Festool, ITW and Skil.
• Sample the latest in kitchen cooking ranges and appliances from AGA and Britannia.
• Learn about finding land, arranging finance and buying materials from self build and renovation experts.
• Book one-to-one sessions with CAD designers and take part in practical skills workshops in plastering, bricklaying and tiling, with Trade Skills 4U.
• There will also be an exclusive launch of ‘Tommy’s House by Potton Homes; a new eco-friendly timber frame package range, inspired by Tommy Walsh’s eco house, which he built for £60,000 in 60 days.

The Self Build & Renovation Show will run between Thursday 6th and Sunday 9th March, at the National Self Build & Renovation Centre in Swindon. Entry cost £10 per adult, or £15 per couple.

Buildstore Ltd has kindly arranged a generous ½ price ticket discount for UK Home Ideas readers, who are invited to log on to the website to book their tickets and enter this code - SBMUKH005, for the discount, on any of the four days of the Show.

Web: http://www.mykindofhome.co.uk/show

Tel: (01506) 409 616

Home furnishings company IKEA UK is working with the Woodland Trust the UK’s leading conservation charity, to help expand the forests here.

The company will donate the equivalent of a square foot of forest every time customers swipe their IKEA family loyalty card.

This unique partnership with Woodland Trust, will run for an initial four years and over that period, IKEA hopes to raise at least £1.3 million, to create an additional 452 acres of UK woodland.

Fifteen IKEA stores in the UK will participate immediately in the ‘foot of forest’, plus in the Belfast and Coventry stores –when they open in December 2007.

To start the campaign IKEA UK will donate a foot of forest for each of its 9000 workers employed at its stores and distribution centres.

The Woodland Trust has more than 1000 woods across the UK covering approximately 50,000 acres, all of which are open to the public.

The IKEA FAMILY card, launched in February this year, gives customers a range of exclusive discounts and offers and has already more than a million new members.

Each time an IKEA FAMILY member visits a store and swipes their membership card at a checkout, 10p will be donated to Woodland Trust, which effectively creates a square foot of woodland.

Charlie Browne, IKEA UK’s environment manager said, “Our customers have a fantastic opportunity to help us do something positive to ensure that the UK’s forests flourish.”

“The UK is one of the least wooded countries in Europe so that’s one very good reason for doing something positive.”

The foot of forest project is the latest environmental project spearheaded by IKEA in the UK.

For more information about the initiative go to:

Web: http://www.ikeafamilyforest.co.uk

Tel: (01476) 581112.

IKEA believes that taking social and environmental responsibility is good for business; therefore their products and services should have an overall positive impact on people and the environment.

IKEA works in partnership with UNICEF, Save the Children, and WWF (the global conservation organisation) to improve children’s rights and welfare, plus support for responsible forestry.

Since it started in 2005, the soft toy campaign has globally raised a total of £3.5million!

It’s now time for the third IKEA soft toy campaign. For every soft toy sold between November 3 and December 24, the company will share a £1 donation between UNICEF and Save the Children.

The money raised this year, will support 12 projects in 10 countries that will focus on improving children’s education; it will help to build schools, provide desks, water and toilets, as well as providing teaching materials such as books and pencils.

This year IKEA aims to raise £275,000 in the UK. Together with their customers, they can make a real difference and give many children around the world a chance to go to school.

A little can change so much. If you bought just one soft toy, you could help a child to get 20 pencils and 2 geometry sets. Imagine the difference millions of IKEA customers can make!

Web: http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_GB/rooms_ideas/soft_toys/index.html

Tel: (0845) 355 1141

Smallbone of Devizes is involved once again with The London Design Festival, from 15th to 25th September 2007.

This year, the company will be hosting an exhibition by artist Mimi Joung, in which she reinterprets traditional British china, now discarded in favour of mass produced alternatives.

The exhibition named ‘Displacement’ is part installation, part sculpture and explores the memories, rituals, skills and designs associated with these neglected pieces of traditional decorative china.

Mimi Joung comes from Korea where she trained in ceramics; she gained her Masters degree at the Royal College of Art and is currently artist in residence at Sunderland University.  She says of her work, “My intention was to rethink the history of the object and create new possibilities for its future.”

Chairman Charlie Smallbone says “We are passionate about British design and pleased to support Mimi Joung as a new creative talent, as she explores the history of these everyday objects and the tradition of craft and design in Britain.”

The exhibition will be held at Smallbone of Devizes flagship kitchen showroom at, 220 Brompton Road, Knightsbridge, London SW3 2BB.

Exhibition opening times:
9.30am - 5.30pm Monday-Friday ;  10am - 5pm Saturday ; Closed Sunday.

Web: http://www.smallbone.co.uk
Tel:  (020) 7589 5998

The Homebuilding & Renovating Show at ExCeL London from 21st to 23rd September, is the only show in the South East dedicated to building, improving, or renovating a home.

This wide-ranging show offers products, advice and inspiration on how to improve or renovate a home and how to make it more environmentally friendly.

The Show also offers the opportunity to consider the option of saving money by building your own home, as well as how to make the most of the latest smart home technology.

The London Homebuilding & Renovating Show boasts the Move or Improve Pavilion, Eco Homes Zone, T3 Smart Home Zone and a wide range of self-build exhibitors.

The Show offers a series of free seminars and exhibitor-led masterclasses;

The seminars cover a range of topics from ‘How to build your way up the property ladder’ to ‘How the intelligent home can transform your life’;

Whilst the masterclasses will concentrate on specifics such as ecological restoration and renovation, rainwater harvesting and home automation controls.

New this year is the Eco Homes Zone, reflecting the demand for more information on eco products and services; key products will be presented in areas such as renewable energy, insulation, heating systems and building materials, through to those designed to save energy and money within the home.

Over 220 national and specialist companies will be on hand to offer the latest products, innovations and services.

Tickets are £8 in advance or £12 on the door (children under 16 go free).

Web: http://www.homebuildingshow.co.uk

Tel: (0870) 906 2002.

If fun, friendly and relaxed is how you like it, then visit the RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park (18th – 22nd July), which has plenty of treats in store for garden lovers.

The Show gardens will endeavour to inspire you with a plethora of creative and fantastical designs:

Tatton Park’s own flowerbed in conjunction with Cheshire County Council, will be using a gondola as its centrepiece to pay homage to Venice and the estate’s Italian gardens.

This year Tatton is leading the renaissance of the most characteristic of English summer fruits, the gooseberry; the nine gooseberry societies in the UK, will be displaying their champion fruits and heritage varieties in the National Plant Societies Marquee.

Flower power is in vogue this year, as Fiona Hogg will bring a collection of plants ideal for use in floral art in ‘The Flower Arranger’s Garden’, where the featured flowers will be arranged according to the principles of form, texture and the colour wheel.

‘Flower Power’ from Finchale Training College will create a colour surge, using renewable energy to establish a lush and vibrant garden using a solar panel to power the pumps and a lunar pavement providing a feeling of abstract art.

Not forgetting the valuable advice that can be gleaned from the RHS Gardening Advice Desk.

The RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park takes place between 18th and 22nd July (18th July is reserved for RHS members).

To book tickets visit:

Web: http://www.rhs.org.uk/flowershows 

Tel:  (0870) 842 2229

Family, food and the environment take centre stage at Hampton Court Flower Show this year from 3rd to 8th July.

Key themes include inspiring children about all things horticultural, growing your own fruit and vegetables and sustainable gardening for today’s world.

The show champions the RHS campaign to ‘Grow Your Own and many of the show gardens reflect this:

Visit edible gardens like The Torres Tapas Garden, by Anthea Guthrie, which features Mediterranean vegetables used in authentic tapas dishes to complement the wines of Torres; or

‘Mange Tout’, a decorative vegetable garden by Francesca Cleary and Ian Lawrence’s where everything, including the flowers, are edible.

At Quaglino’s Kitchen in association with NS&I, Craig James is giving cookery demos and talks, featuring delicious ideas for preparing summer vegetables, herbs, potatoes and soft fruits.

Educating young minds is behind Chris Beardshaw’s ‘The Growing Schools Garden – Learning Outside the Classroom’; over 30 schools took part in designing, planting and growing the garden.

A number of gardens deal with the environmental issues:

In our throw away world of conspicuous consumption and gross waste, the ‘Wildlife Garden in Skip’ design by Ruth Holmes of The Royal Parks, provides the ultimate horticultural solution for sustainability and recycling.

Tickets range from £13 to £30, with children aged 5-15 years £5 and under-5’s going free.

For further show information and online booking visit:

Web:  http://www.rhs.org.uk/flowershows.

Tel:   (0870) 906 3791 (public line) or 0870 906 3790 (RHS Members).

Following its successful 2006 London debut, CEDIA Expo returns to ExCeL London, running from Monday 25th June, the exhibition itself being open for business from Tuesday 26th until Thursday 28th June.

This year’s event promises not only to be much more integrated, exciting and informative than ever, but also provides four days of comprehensive industry-focussed training courses.

CEDIA Expo has established itself as a leading European education and product showcase for home electronic system designers, installers, specifiers and equipment manufacturers and distributors.

Expo 2007 brings together the latest innovations and technologies in home cinema, audio-video solutions, lighting control, structured wiring, HVAC control, blind and security systems and features many of the top names in the industry.

The CEDIA Expo education programme will be a major attraction for many visitors, offering an extraordinary range of education, specifically targeted at the residential technology sector, with more than 170 hours of training for delegates.

Opening Times: Monday 25th June: Training only: 10.00-18.00 Hrs.
Tuesday 26th June: Expo: 09.30 – 18.00 Hrs, Training: 10.00 – 18.00 Hrs.
Wednesday 27th June: Expo: 09.30 – 18.00 Hrs, Training:10.00-18.00 Hrs.
Thursday 28th June: Expo 09.300 – 17.00, Training: 10.00 – 17.00 Hrs.

CEDIA Expo is strictly a TRADE ONLY event and proof of trade status may be requested on arrival at the venue.

For a full exhibitor list and more information visit:
Web: http://www.cedia-expo.com.
Tel: (0870) 4866817.