Exhibition Stand Builders in Birmingham
Your hall at the NEC decides your stand before anyone opens a drawing. We design and build exhibition stands for the Birmingham shows and handle what sits behind them: the drawings, the complex-structure paperwork, the rigging order, the vehicle slot and the install. Bespoke wooden construction and DUM FLEX™, managed by the same team that stands on site during the build.
Get a quote →The sectors that fill the Birmingham calendar are sectors we already build for
Manufacturing, quarrying, aviation engineering, construction, lifts. Every stand below is a project you can open and look at.
The NEC is eighteen halls, and your hall decides your stand
One campus, very different rooms. What you can build is set by the hall you are in, long before anyone talks about design.
Ceiling height is the first constraint
Halls 1 and 5 clear 15.5 m. Most of the rest sit at 10 m or 10.6 m. That single figure decides whether a double-deck is even on the table, how tall a header can go, and how much of your brand is visible from the far end of the aisle. Hall 5 is the largest at 24,870 m² on a 210 x 120 m footprint; Hall 3 runs 10,610 m² on 120 x 90 m. The venue publishes the full hall specification, and it is worth reading before you sign for the space.
Height limits are the show's, not the hall's
The hall ceiling is the ceiling. The limit you actually build to is set by your organiser, show by show, and it is usually far lower. Anything above the show's threshold becomes a complex structure and needs a package: scaled plans and sections, structural calculations, risk assessment and method statement, a construction phase plan and public liability cover, all submitted through the organiser's plan portal before a deadline that falls weeks before build-up. We prepare that package as part of the job.
Rigging goes through the venue
You cannot hang anything from the roof yourself. Suspended banners, lighting rigs and anything else that leaves the floor are ordered through the NEC's own rigging department, to their deadline. If your design depends on a hung sign, that decision has to be made early enough to order it.
Build-up at the NEC runs on booked slots
The part that catches people out is not the build. It is everything around it.
Vehicles
Deliveries run on a booking platform with a timed slot and a QR code at the gate. On the busiest build days a deposit system applies on top, with a charge if you overstay your unloading window. Miss the slot and you are queuing while your build window closes. We book the slots and manage the sequence so the stand arrives in the order it gets assembled.
There is nowhere to put your empties
The site has no exhibitor storage, and empty cases cannot stay in the hall. They go out through an on-site freight handler and come back for breakdown. If you are shipping from abroad, this is the detail that decides whether your crates are waiting for you on the last morning.
Site rules bind your contractor too
Construction regulations apply to stand builds, and your show manual sets the rest: hi-viz in the unloading area, and night working requested through the organiser's office where it is allowed at all. These are the things a contractor is supposed to have handled before you hear about them.
Most of the brands we build for are not based in the UK
Manufacturers, exporters and engineering firms who fly in for the show. For us that is the normal case, not the exception.
Birmingham makes it easier than most. The airport sits on the edge of the campus, linked by a free ninety-second shuttle to Birmingham International station, and a covered walkway runs from there into the halls. In practice you land and walk to your stand. London Euston is from around seventy minutes by train.
Brief and design run remotely, on calls scheduled around your hours. Our project manager owns the project end to end and is on site through the build, so the person who answered your questions in March is the person standing on your stand in November. We can receive your printed material and giveaways ahead of the show and have them on the stand when you arrive.
Talk to us about your show →Bespoke or DUM FLEX
Exhibition stand design in Birmingham splits the same way it does anywhere: build it once for this show, or build it to come back.
Bespoke
Custom wooden construction built around your design rather than fitted to a system. Double-deck structures, enclosed meeting rooms, unusual shapes, heavy product on display. When the stand has to do something a frame cannot, this is the route. Our double-deck work runs from a 55 m² aviation stand to a 275 m² airshow chalet.
DUM FLEX
An aluminium frame system with tensioned fabric graphics. It goes up quickly, packs down into cases, and our frame system comes back out for the next show with fresh graphics, stored and maintained by us in between. If you exhibit at more than one show a year, the structure is already built before the second show starts. The system page sets out how it is built.
Which one your hall pushes you towards
A 10 m ceiling and a tight build window favour a system that goes up fast. A 15.5 m hall with a double-deck brief is bespoke territory. We will tell you which one your show is asking for before you commit to either.
Exhibiting at the NEC: the questions we get asked
Do you have to be based in Birmingham to build at the NEC?
No. Stands are built off site and delivered into the hall to a booked slot, so what matters is whether your contractor knows the venue's rules and turns up with the paperwork done: plans submitted to the organiser's deadline, rigging ordered through the venue, vehicle slots booked. That is the part we run.
How much does an exhibition stand at the NEC cost?
It depends on the size, the build approach and how much of the structure is custom. An 18 m² system stand and a 275 m² bespoke build are different projects with different budgets. Send us the show, the stand size and the budget you have in mind, and you get a straight answer rather than a brochure.
Can you build a double-deck stand at the NEC?
In the right hall, yes. It depends on your hall's clear height and on your show's own limit, which is set by the organiser and is usually lower than the ceiling. Anything above that threshold is a complex structure and needs structural calculations and plan approval before build-up. We assess it against your hall's clear height and your show manual, and we tell you early if a design carries approval risk.
Who handles the drawings and the approvals?
We do. Scaled plans, sections, structural calculations where the design needs them, risk assessment and method statement, and submission through the organiser's plan portal to their deadline. It is part of the package, not an extra you chase.
Can we hang a banner over our stand?
Only through the venue's rigging department, ordered to their deadline. No contractor can attach to the roof themselves. If a hung element matters to your design, tell us early enough to order it.
Can the same stand be used again next year?
A DUM FLEX build is designed for it: the frame system is ours, it stays in our stock between shows, and it comes back out with fresh graphics. A bespoke stand can be built to come apart and return, but that has to be a decision at design stage rather than a hope afterwards.
We are shipping from outside the UK. What happens to our crates?
There is no exhibitor storage on site and empties cannot stay in the hall, so they go out through an on-site freight handler during build-up and come back for breakdown. We coordinate that with your freight forwarder so nothing is sitting in a lorry park on show morning.