Saie and Andil renew their partnership for the 2015 show

Following the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of Saie last October, the 2015 edition of the show (Bologna, 14 to 17 October) will mark the 70th anniversary of the foundation of one of its  longstanding partners - Andil, the Italian brick and tile manufacturers' association.

Together with its member companies, the association will be back at Saie Smart House, the new section devoted entirely to home building, the most innovative solutions for energy improvement and earthquake safety.

As well as giving architects and technicians an opportunity to view the most innovative and high-performance products in the sector, Andil will also be presenting "Rigeneriamoci", the 2015 brick and tile industry manifesto which aims to review company strategies and promote a new concept of urban spaces.

Andil's important anniversary will also be an opportunity to further expand the Brick and Ceramic Plaza, which as always will be hosted in hall 25 of the Bologna exhibition centre. The partnership between Andil and Saie is centred on key issues for high-quality building, including comfort, healthiness, safety, energy efficiency and seismic design. These themes will also be explored in the second edition of the conference tour organised by Andil entitled "Nearly Zero Energy Buildings towards 2020" (NZEB), of which Saie is the main partner. The 2015 tour will consist of four stages. The first was held in Treviso on 27 March and was fully booked; it will be followed by appointments in L'Aquila (8 May), Bergamo (25 June) and Asti (13 November).

The 2014 edition of the tour was enormously successful, attracting a total of 4,000 participants (600 per conference) and 14 sponsor companies. The initiative "Edifici2020" aims to raise awareness amongst professionals of the theme of the energy efficiency of the existing building stock in view of the legislative goal of achieving a stock of NZEB (Near Zero Energy Buildings) by 2020. The scientific organisation of the tour has been assigned to university lecturers and members of ANCE, ENEA and the UNI and CTI commissions, who have been working for years on standards relating to these issues as part of the national and international standardisation committees (CTI, UNI and CEN).