Kriss Akabusi, cucumber coolers and the discovery of the elusive Lego panda all contributed to an excellent second day on the UBM stand at Ecobuild.

One of the highlights was the Government Construction Summit and Building 2012 panel discussion chaired by Tom Broughton with speakers including former Olympic athlete Akabusi and government chief construction advisor Paul Morrell.

Addressing a packed seminar room the speakers, along with Ike Ijeh from Building, talked about everything from East London regeneration and Building’s 2012 Olympic Campaign through to the construction industry’s role in the future of the UK economy as well as how we export skills overseas - especially now, off the back of such success delivering the 2012 Games.

Later in the day we invited our top 50 rising stars of sustainability onto the stand for afternoon tea and cocktails to celebrate such a great host of up and coming industry talent.

Our green trailblazers were out in force and drank the bar dry! After a day navigating the excel centre venue though, who can blame them for jumping at the opportunity for a glass of champagne and a strawberry scone? Even the non-alcoholic cucumber coolers went down a storm and like any successful venue, we actually had to stop serving drinks all together to help our guests disperse.

Thanks must go to our top 50 for making the event such a success and for everything they have achieved to make the shortlist in the first place. The industry salutes you.

Throughout the day Ken Shuttleworth’s Bamboo Village underwent a staggering transformation. The structure, which is being built by delegates out of Lego in model form, went from two “bamboo” stumps to a full cluster of four towers reaching up above most people’s heads. Tower 1 was just 4cm off the 2m target height at the end of the day.

There was a real buzz around the stand the higher the structure got and the best news is that after two weeks of searching…the elusive Lego panda has been found! Turns out they spend their time whiling away the hours at Westfield shopping centre. Who knew?

To celebrate the money we have raised with this initiative for the Chinese Children and Teenagers Fund, and to see the towers and (most importantly) the pandas please come by the UBM stand at 3pm today as Ken and his team from Make will be closing the project.

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