Digital Construction North

Digital Construction North gives you a free day of talks from project teams and product demonstrations on information management, BIM, AI, robotics and automation, if you work in architecture, engineering, construction and operations (AECO). Digital Construction North is a one-day conference and exhibition held at Manchester Central. It is run by the team behind Digital Construction Week and organised by Diversified Communications UK.

Digital Construction North 2026

You can attend free on Wednesday 18 November 2026, from 09:30 to 17:00, with last entry at 16:00. Places are limited by the capacity of the venue, so every visitor registration is reviewed before a pass is issued.

• Register with a business email address (personal accounts such as Gmail are refused) and, where possible, a LinkedIn profile.
• Checks take around five working days; a waiting list opens when capacity is full.
• Approved visitors are emailed a badge to print a week before the show.
• Vendors cannot attend unless they are exhibiting or sponsoring, and a no-soliciting policy applies on the show floor.
• Under 18s and full-time college or university students need permission from the organiser before attending.

Your visitor pass covers the conference sessions across four theatres, a keynote in the auditorium, the exhibition, and networking with drinks at the end of the day. You also get the DCN event app, which lets attendees who have opted in message each other and book meetings.

Who you will meet

You will be among more than 1,000 built environment professionals, the number the organiser says attend each year. Its intended audience includes architects, BIM managers, contractors, facilities managers, structural engineers, clients, project managers, developers and quantity surveyors, along with people working in digital transformation. Its sector breakdown is construction 26%, cross sector 25%, engineering 15%, owners, operators, clients and developers 14%, architecture and design 11%, and other 9%. Priority goes to professionals based in the UK or working on active UK projects. See also our construction and built environment shows on our calendar.

Conference sessions you can attend

You can choose from more than 50 sessions and over 75 speakers in the 2026 programme. Stages include the Information Management Stage, Innovation Stage, Tech Stage and Transformation Hub. Sessions listed include:

• A case study from John Sisk & Son on site data capture and quality assurance for the Manchester City FC North Stand extension, which used more than 95 federated BIM models.
• UK Parliament and Donald Insall Associates on turning heritage records from a repair at St Stephen’s Cloister Court into structured asset data.
• A test of whether Autodesk Revit is ready for IFC 4.3 project delivery, with speakers from Evolve Consultancy and Skanska UK.
• Sessions from nima on its education strategy and its Information Management Initiative projects.

Exhibiting without rival suppliers on the floor

As an exhibitor, you do not compete with other suppliers walking the floor, the organiser says, because non-exhibiting vendors are turned away. The exhibition has more than 50 brands. You can choose from “turn up and go” stand packages, set out in a 2026 exhibitor brochure, and stand enquiries go to the event director, Karolina Orecchini. Our guide to building an exhibition budget may help with costs, and first-time visitors can read choosing your first UK trade show.

Related shows

You can add other dates to your calendar. Diversified Communications UK also runs Euro Bus Expo at the NEC Birmingham from 3 November 2026. Other construction dates include London Build Expo at Excel London from 25 November 2026, Futurebuild at Excel London from 11 May 2027 and UKREiiF in Leeds from 18 May 2027. More events in the city are on our Manchester trade shows page.

Getting there

You can reach the venue by train, tram or car. Trains run to Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria, with Metrolink trams into the city centre. Manchester Central is a 20-minute walk or about five minutes by taxi from Piccadilly, and five minutes on foot from Oxford Road station. The organiser gives rail times of 2h 9m from London and 1h 11m from Leeds. Drivers can use the 24-hour NCP car park beneath the venue, which has 720 spaces, 18 disabled bays, three electric vehicle charging points and a 1.98 m height limit. Booking at least 24 hours ahead with the promo code MCEXHIB16 gives you up to 24 hours of parking for £14. Event Express is the official hotel booking agent and offers reduced rates where available.

Source: digitalconstructionnorth.com/dcn-faqs, digitalconstructionnorth.com/plan-your-visit, digitalconstructionnorth.com/why-exhibit, digitalconstructionnorth.com/who-attends-dcn