Companies looking to stand out from the crowd at international trade fairs are driving a surge in business for Bradford-made exhibition stands.

Contracting, manufacturing and shopfitting firm PEC is benefiting as companies allocate more of their marketing budgets to impressing visitors at major trade and consumer exhibitions.

Managing director Sohan Panesar said: “We’ve seen a real increase in the number of enquiries from companies wanting to take their products to exhibitions and make a splash with a booth which can help them stand out from the crowd.

“Companies are turning to specialist contractors to build something really distinctive, rather than customise the pop up or banner stands which have become the norm in recent times.

“There seems to have been a real shift towards investment in a quality stand that has been designed and built by a team of specialists, and the impact this can have on a company’s image.”

PEC works with marketing teams to ensure its exhibition stands have the maximum impact – including at the Mobile World Congress exhibition in Barcelona where it devised a stand used to launch Sony’s first smartphone. PEC worked with marketing communications agency Momentum UK on the contract.

Bespoke units were built at PEC’s Bradford joinery workshop on the Euroway estate and a PEC team travelled to Barcelona to build and then dismantle the stand.

Momentum project manager Daniel Codd said: “The support and professionalism displayed by PEC under very challenging circumstances was first rate.

“They continually went above and beyond to ensure everything was executed to the highest standards.”

Recent work also includes projects for Leeds-based Range Rover tuner Overfinch’s Goodwood Festival of Speed stand, where it launched three new models.

PEC worked with MAC Cost Consulting on the stand.

Rachel Groves, MAC Cost Consulting senior project manager, said: “It was a challenging project to turn around in the timescales available and PEC delivered in all aspects."

Last year PEC built a stand for luxury bathroom retailer C P Hart at the UK’s first trade exhibition for the independent, luxury and boutique hotel sector.

Ian Dutch, CP Hart head of projects for hotels, said: “It was our first event dedicated to the contracts division of the business and we were targetting hotel owners and the architects, interior designers and developers who specify hotel projects. We worked very closely with PEC on design and construction, and the result has proved very successful for CP Hart, generating many leads and directly resulting in a number of significant orders.”

PEC, which last year created around 20 new jobs and employs 120 people, has enjoyed a rise in exhibition stand business as well as securing UK-wide contracts worth £5 million for shopfitting and building projects in the retail and healthcare sectors.