Nimlok

With Nimlok, you get design, fabrication, printing, AV and installation handled in-house by one company. The Wellingborough, Northamptonshire stand designer and builder has traded since 1970, when it started out making portable backdrops. It says about 100 people work at its 55,000 sq ft headquarters, Nimlok House, and that its UK operation produces at least 450 projects a year.

Bespoke hire stands

You get a custom stand while hiring most of it. For stand design and build, Nimlok calls this Bespoke Hire. A hired aluminium framework, lighting and feature pieces such as counters, kiosks and archways are combined with custom-fabricated parts, and Nimlok says that on average about 80% of a stand is made from hired elements. The rest is printed graphics, made in-house with solvent-free methods, and custom woodwork, which the company says can be reused and stored at its site between shows. Clients moving from a traditional custom build, it says, often get a new design for less than refurbishing their existing stand.

Modular and portable displays

You can choose displays that pack into a case or fit a shell scheme bay. The Nimlok Portables range covers the displays and graphics end of the business. The Fastframe tool-free modular system links frames with SEG fabric graphics running edge to edge, packs into a case and starts from £2,700 ex VAT. Illumigo Modular is an LED lightbox system with 0.85m wide panels made to fit inside standard shell scheme bays. Our guide to shell scheme or space only compares the two.

Stand games, analytics and training

You can draw visitors in, track visitor numbers and train your team. In-house digital and AV teams build stand games, quizzes and activations. For stand analytics, its AV technicians install sensors that pick up passive mobile signals over venue WiFi, giving heatmaps, dwell time and visitor numbers through an online portal. It also runs 5-hour stand staff training sessions for up to 12 people at its Centre for Exhibiting Excellence, led by managing director James Rook.

See your stand before the show

You can inspect your stand at a pre-build before the show. Its services include 3D design, in-house 5m superwide printing, project management with a client portal, a materials hub for choosing substrates, logistics, and storage of custom elements. For mainland European shows, installation can be handled from an EU base in Germany, and the company says it has large scale manufacturing in the US and Canada plus partners in Europe, Dubai, South Africa, Asia and Australia. Our guide to briefing a stand builder covers what to prepare.

Published projects

You can see its work at UK and overseas shows.

• Sync, a stand with coin slot integration and RFID at Bett, Excel London
• Animalcare, a 28 sqm stand with multiplayer games and stand analytics at BVA Live, NEC Birmingham
• Atos, a 150 sqm stand with a digital globe and touchscreen kiosks at DSEI, Excel London
• Sidara at Passenger Terminal Expo, with a “What type of passenger are you?” quiz that captured visitor data
• Instantor, which returned for InstallerSHOW 2026 after first working with Nimlok in 2025
• Eviden at DSEI and Pandrol at InnoTrans, Messe Berlin

Accreditations

You can check its credentials. Nimlok states that it is ISO 9001 registered and holds ESSA Health and Safety accreditation. Other United Kingdom suppliers listed here include Access Displays, Quadrant2Design and GH Display.

Source: nimlok.co.uk, nimlok.co.uk/about-us, nimlok.co.uk/exhibition-stands, nimlok.co.uk/exhibition-stands/self-build-modular-exhibition-stands