The Italian layer Thomas Garfiller won the eighth European Parquet Layer’s Championships held on 25th - 28th May in Poznan (Poland).
The Italian layer (from Alto Adige) beat Killinger Florian of Germany (second place) and Thomas Reiner of Austria (third place).
The competition – organised by the Association for the Promotion of Professional Training for Parquet Laying and other Floor Covering Techniques in Europe (ACCP P + F) - saw 14 contestants from 8 nations fighting it out.

Ghent University’s new Universiteitsforum, affectionately known as the ‘UFO’, is the latest addition to a university campus which has been deliberately maintained and developed within the heart of the city. Opened for the 2009-2010 University year, it includes a stunning new 1000 seat auditorium whose American white oak interior provides outstanding acoustic quality and complements the sober plain glass and concrete of the exterior aspects of the building.
The architect Joris Van Huychem was looking for a single material that could be used throughout the auditorium. American white oak proved to be “the best solution” because of its adaptability, ability to meet all the particular specifications and its slightly greyish tone which fitted well with the building design. The thick auditorium doors are clad in acoustic white oak panelling and American white oak strips have been used throughout the 1500 m2 of tiered flooring. The walls and ceilings are also covered with strips of American white oak in varying length, up to 3 m, creating a graphic and complex effect. Once sawn and planed, the oak strips were pressure treated with a fire retardant, with resistant plaster board and a fire retardant tissue sandwiched between the strips providing compliance with the stringent fire regulations for a public building.
A high standard of acoustics was the key requirement for this 1,000 seater auditorium, so that students in the back row could hear just as well as those in the front. The acoustics engineers recommended that at least 30% of the 1000 m2 of ceiling and wall surface be left exposed to strengthen sound absorption.
As a result, the joiners first prefabricated hundreds of panels with different patterns of oak strips and then fitted them together on site using a computer-aided layout plan to assemble this gigantic jigsaw puzzle.
Deadlines to make sure that the auditorium was ready for the new university term.

We knew in advance the number of visitors would go down during Europarket, which took place at the end of April in Kortrijk Xpo, Belgium. In these tough times, it was only to be expected that the number of exhibitors would fall (122 in comparison to the previous record edition of two years ago, when there were 186 exhibitors). Eventually, Europarket received 4,449 visitors during the three days of the fair, a drop (-31%) which was almost perfectly in line with the lower number of exhibitors (-34%).
What does all of this mean for the future of the fair? Numerous exhibitors said they appreciated the very high quality of their visitors, that on most of the stands business went remarkably well and that the necessary new contacts were made.
Exhibition Manager Nathalie Sandra: “We are not surprised the organization received such positive response. It is clear the quality of our visitor was high and that business went well good to very well for quite a number of companies, depending on the group aimed at. We noticed moreover that the important international buyers and a fairly big number of wholesale companies have found their way to Kortrijk. The only drawback is that quite some parquet installers failed to show up. In the past, this was exactly the group that attracted the biggest number of visitors”.
As always, various reasons can be found for the decreased presence of parquet installers. A number of exhibitors were told these people judged that the offer of new items was not big enough, but to us, the main reason must be found in the market itself. Following a very disappointing month of March for most of the parquet installers, the activity picked up remarkably as from the first half of April, which was confirmed by the parquet union ‘Dé Parketplaatsers’. This being the case, work comes first and visiting a fair is no longer a major priority. If there was a Belgian invasion...”.

The 2010 Convention of the NWFA (National Wood Flooring Association) was held on 22nd - 25th March in Washington (USA) at the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center.
The NWFA is America’s leading trade association in this sector, whose goal is to advance and promote the wooden flooring sector.
The NWFA is an association that covers all aspects of this sector and includes amongst its members (more than 3,500 around the world) wooden flooring manufacturers, distributors, fitters and manufacturers of products for laying and finishing parquet floors.
The Convention has always been a useful tool for visitors, letting them come into contact with hundreds of companies in this field and offering them the chance to discuss problems affecting the sector. The exhibitors, on the other hand, are afforded plenty of space in which to show and illustrate their products and services to the thousands of operators who attend the event each year.
Then there is also an area dedicated to conferences and practical laying demonstrations.
The atmosphere is familiar, where ideas are exchanged and developed, letting all increase their knowhow and expertise.

For info: www.nwfa.org