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Following the news that SED - the annual Site Equipment Demonstration - has been
cancelled for the second year running, Nick Johnson looks back at the event which
had been an important part of the UK construction equipment scene for 46 years.
SED - the end of an era
Having cancelled the
annual Site Equipment
Demonstration (SED) last
year, the exhibition
organisers (RBI) have
now given up on their
attempts to stage SED
2011. So this notable UK
event, whose origins date
back to 1963, has now
effectively been
consigned to the history
books.
In its official announcement,
RBI stated, "The recession
in construction has continued
to affect suppliers' marketing
budgets. Despite the
hard work of our sales team,
the current level of commitment
to next year's show is
not what we had hoped and
A historic picture taken at the Hatfield site of an SED show in the early
1970s.
our feeling is the show is unlikely to meet our expectations. We therefore feel that we have no alternative but to cancel
the show."
RBI had already closed its very long established weekly UK construction publication Contract Journal. Now, as
well as scuppering SED, it has closed its UK monthly (latterly bi-monthly) magazine SEM (Site Equipment Manager) -
formerly PMJ Plant Managers Journal - as well as its SED365 website.
I am personally saddened by this news. I was Editor of PMJ from 1981 to 1987 and I have attended every SED
since 1970. Indeed I also went to the one and only satellite SED staged at the Construction Industry Training Board
training centre at Bircham Newton in Norfolk during 1969.
E P Barrus was the instigator
What became SED actually started back in 1963 when five independent
plant companies got together to demonstrate their wares in a field in Berkshire
- possibly either near Newbury or Staines. (Does anyone remember
which?) The instigator of the event was E P Barrus which wanted to show
potential customers a pipe cutter in action. It contacted Whitlock backhoe
loader dealer Kebric Plant of Watford to see if it could supply a machine to
dig a pit in which the pipe cutter could be demonstrated safely.
Instead of paying Kebric for the excavation work, E P Barrus agreed
that the Whitlock could be left on site and demonstrated to the visitors.
Three other companies also joined in to show different machines at work
and the event proved such a success that it was decided to develop and
expand it on a more formal basis.
The first show under the title Site Equipment Demonstration was held
the following year at a site just by the Denham roundabout in
Buckinghamshire with 18 companies taking part. In 1965, the second Site
Equipment Demonstration was held at Foxley's Farm in Carpenders Park
near Watford in Hertfordshire with more than 20 exhibitors.
Page 28 CP&E Contractors Plant & Equipment Vol 1 No 8