South East Homebuilding & Renovating Show

If you are planning a self-build, renovation, extension or conversion, the South East Homebuilding & Renovating Show gives you a seminar theatre, free 15-minute consultations at an Advice Centre and a hall of building product and service suppliers. The two-day consumer exhibition is held each January at Farnborough International Exhibition and Conference Centre. It is brought by the Homebuilding & Renovating brand, which the organiser says was established in 1990, and the specialist media company Future, producer of titles including Homes & Gardens, Livingetc, Country Life and Real Homes.

The 2027 edition

You can buy tickets online right up to the day before, and children under 16 go free.

• Dates: Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 January 2027
• Opening times: Saturday 10am to 5pm, Sunday 10am to 4.30pm
• Venue: Farnborough International, with visitor arrival at Gate F
• Tickets: sold online until 3pm on the day before the show; a separate ticket is needed for each day
• Children: under 16s go free but must be with an adult

Your ticket is emailed to you and should be shown on arrival. Seminars and masterclasses are covered by the ticket and need no advance booking, though the organiser advises arriving early as seats fill. Only guide, assistance and hearing dogs are admitted, and there are no cash machines on site.

Talks and free advice

You see the full seminar timetable whichever day you go, as it repeats each day. According to the organiser, the 2027 show has over 220 exhibitors and two theatres hosting more than 30 sessions across the weekend. Published sessions include a beginner’s guide to self-build and self-build mortgages with Mark Stevenson and Tom McSherry, extension design with Michael Holmes, planning permission with Sally Tagg, design ideas from architect Allan Corfield, retrofitting older homes with David Hilton and kitchen planning with Julia Kendell. Later slots cover permitted development rights, choosing between a boiler and a heat pump, common self-build mistakes, period home renovation and loft, garage and cellar conversions.

You can also get one-to-one advice at no charge. The Advice Centre groups The Planning Clinic, Ask the Expert, Ask the Architect, Ask the Builder and the Home Energy Academy. Its 15-minute one-to-one sessions are free but can only be booked in person on the day, not in advance.

Who exhibits

You can compare exhibitors on the show site’s list, from architects and timber frame builders to heating, glazing and kitchen suppliers. Named companies include Internorm, Federation of Master Builders, Octopus Energy, Stiebel Eltron, Smeg, Nu-heat, Oakwrights, Carpenter Oak, Border Oak, Kloeber and York Handmade Brick. Product areas listed by the organiser are kitchens, bathrooms, renovation, green energy, self-build, extensions, conversions and remodelling. Surrey Lofts, Internorm, Buildstore, FMB and RIBA appear as sponsors and partners. The show sits in our construction and built environment listings.

If you are a builder, plumber, electrician, carpenter, property developer, architect or designer, the show also invites you to use it for sourcing suppliers and attending the seminars, although it is aimed at homeowners.

Other shows in the national series

If Farnborough does not suit you, the organiser runs eight annual Homebuilding & Renovating shows across the UK, in Farnborough, London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Surrey, Harrogate, Somerset and Edinburgh. Sister events include the Northern Homebuilding & Renovating Show in Harrogate (from 30 October 2026) and the National Homebuilding & Renovating Show at the NEC.

Edition	Dates	Venue
2026	17 to 18 January	Farnborough International
2027	16 to 17 January	Farnborough International

Exhibiting

If you exhibit, you reach visitors with projects under way. Across the whole series, the organiser says its shows attract over 80,000 visitors a year with an average project spend of £142,000, and that 77% of visitors have a live project. Stand, sponsorship and speaking enquiries go through a form on the organiser’s site, handled by Nick Noble at Future. First-time exhibitors can read our guides to choosing your first UK trade show and building an exhibition budget.

Getting there

You can park free, and the venue lies just off the A325, reached from junction 4 of the M3 and from the A31. The organiser asks drivers to enter the venue name with Gate F in their sat nav and, once the brown Exhibition Centre signs or yellow AA event signs appear, to follow those to Gate F instead. The what3words reference is remind.clap.decreased. Other events at the venue include Southern Manufacturing & Electronics from 2 February 2027; see all shows in Farnborough.

Source: farnborough.homebuildingshow.co.uk, farnborough.homebuildingshow.co.uk/faqs, farnborough.homebuildingshow.co.uk/seminar-theatre, farnborough.homebuildingshow.co.uk/work