Exhibition Stand Builder at ExCeL London
You have a show at ExCeL to win. We design and build the stand, then handle the drawings, approvals, rigging orders, vehicle bookings and the install, so you arrive at the show with one job left: your visitors.
Get a quote →Building at ExCeL is a paperwork job before it is a build job
Every ExCeL show runs on its organiser's manual: height limits, structural submissions, rigging deadlines, vehicle slots. Get those wrong and the best design in the hall stays in the truck. We read the manual before we draw, and we build the admin into the timeline from day one.
Height limits and approvals
Most organisers at ExCeL cap single-storey builds at 4 metres, with taller structures and double decks needing approval and structural calculations. We design to your show's rules from the first sketch, so the stand you sign off is designed to pass your show's approval process.
Complex structures, 28 days early
Anything over 4 metres, raised platforms above 600 mm and suspended features beyond standard banners count as complex structures at ExCeL. The submission package goes in around 28 days before tenancy: scaled drawings, structural calculations and an independent engineer's confirmation. We prepare the drawings and calculations, arrange the engineer's check and submit the package through your organiser.
Rigging through the venue
Only ExCeL's own rigging team may fix to the hall ceiling, and orders placed late carry a surcharge. We book rigging points and banners on the venue's timeline, and design suspended elements to its weight and fixing rules.
Vehicle slots, not queues
Every vehicle entering ExCeL's lorryways is pre-booked through the venue's booking system. We schedule our trucks and coordinate your couriers, so the build slot is spent building, not waiting at the marshalling yard.
The rules in the small print
Water-based paint only. Flame-rated materials to British Standards. Nothing fixed to the hall floor. These details decide whether a build passes inspection, and our specifications follow the venue's standards as a matter of course.
Site safety, handled
Build-up at ExCeL is construction work under CDM 2015. Risk assessments, method statements and inductions are part of our standard delivery, prepared for your show as required, without you having to chase any of it.
One honest note: these rules are set by each show's organiser and they change between editions. Your organiser's manual is the source of truth. Checking it is the first thing we do on every ExCeL project.
Our stands on the ExCeL show floor
Travel, construction, intellectual property, airport technology. Each of these came with its own hall, its own organiser and its own rulebook, and the ExCeL logistics behind all of them were run by the same London team.
Bespoke or DUM FLEX™ at ExCeL
Both approaches have stood on ExCeL's floors, and the right one depends on your brief.
Bespoke
Custom wooden construction, built around your design rather than fitted to a system. When the stand is the brand statement, an open hotel lobby, a national pavilion, a double-deck structure, Bespoke is where that freedom lives. See how we build Bespoke.
DUM FLEX™
A reusable aluminium frame finished with tensioned fabric graphics that leave no visible profiles, plus custom-built elements where the design needs them. For a two or three day ExCeL show, or a calendar with several shows a year, the frame installs quickly and is reused from show to show, with fresh graphics each time. See how DUM FLEX works.
Not sure which fits? Send us the brief and the honest answer comes back quickly. If the ambition and the budget do not meet, you hear it now rather than three weeks in.
The ExCeL timeline, in the order that actually matters
Exhibitors plan forwards from the day they book the space. Venues work backwards from the day the doors open. The second calendar is the one that decides what your stand can be.
Opening day
The evening before the show opens, ExCeL expects every stand finished, every vehicle out and the aisles clear. Handover happens before that deadline, with lighting, graphics, AV and power checked, so your first walk onto the stand is a walk onto a finished one.
The build days
Tenancy at a large ExCeL show usually gives contractors a fixed window measured in days, not weeks. Everything that can be prefabricated is built and finished in the workshop first, so the days on the hall floor go to assembly and finishing detail.
Four weeks out
This is the quiet deadline that catches people. Complex structure submissions and venue rigging orders both close around 28 days before tenancy, and late rigging orders cost more. If a suspended banner or a double-height feature is part of your design, the decision has to be made well before this line.
Design freeze and artwork
Working back further: graphics need final artwork, structures need approved drawings, and both need a signed-off design first. The comfortable version of this timeline starts three to four months before the show. Shorter runways can work; we assess what the time left allows and tell you honestly which parts of the design survive it.
Most of our ExCeL stands were built for clients based outside the UK
Airlines, hotel groups, exporters and manufacturers who land in London days before opening. The model is built for exactly that.
You get one London project manager from brief to handover, on site through the build. Design and approvals run remotely on your hours. Production happens through our controlled regional workshops, and we can receive your graphics, products and displays and have them on the stand for your arrival. When you walk into the hall on opening morning, the stand is ready for use, not a to-do list.
Coming up at ExCeL
A few of the shows on ExCeL's calendar that we track closely. Exhibiting at one of them? The earlier the conversation starts, the more of the venue timeline works in your favour.
Returning to World Travel Market? See the stands we have delivered at WTM London.
ExCeL London: the questions exhibitors ask us
What is the build height limit at ExCeL?
The main halls are 10 metres clear, but your limit is set by the show organiser, not the venue. Most shows cap single-storey builds at 4 metres, with taller structures possible through an approval process. We confirm the limit in your show's manual before design starts, so nothing gets drawn that cannot be built.
Who books the vehicles and deliveries?
Every vehicle entering ExCeL's loading areas needs a pre-booked slot on the venue's booking system. We book our own build vehicles and coordinate slots for your couriers and product deliveries, so nothing is turned away at the gate.
When do rigging orders close?
Rigging at ExCeL runs through the venue's own team, and orders placed inside the final four weeks before tenancy carry a surcharge. Suspended banners also follow set size bands. We place rigging orders as soon as the design is fixed, which is one more reason early briefs pay off.
Can you build a double-deck stand at ExCeL?
Yes, subject to the organiser's approval process: structural calculations, scaled drawings and an independent engineer's sign-off on site. A double deck needs a longer lead time than a single-storey build. If your timeline is too tight for one, we say so at the first conversation and show you what the same budget does in a single storey.
Do you handle RAMS and the venue paperwork?
Yes. Risk assessments, method statements, structural submissions and the venue's construction standards are part of our delivery scope, prepared as your show requires. You review and approve; the chasing is ours.
We booked a shell scheme. Can you still help?
Yes. Furniture, lighting and AV hire can lift a standard shell a long way, and if you have print-ready artwork we can assess applying it to the shell panels. If you have space-only, that is where the full design freedom lives. Tell us which you have booked and we will advise on what it allows at your show.
We are not based in the UK. How does the process work?
Brief and design happen remotely, on calls scheduled around your time zone. One London project manager owns the project end to end, production runs through our controlled regional workshops, and the stand is ready for use when you arrive. On many of our ExCeL projects, the client sees the stand in person for the first time the day before opening.
How early should we start?
For a space-only stand at a major ExCeL show, starting three to four months out keeps every option open: heights, rigging, complex structures. Shorter is sometimes workable depending on scope, and we will tell you honestly what fits the time left rather than promise first and adjust later.