The free CONZTRUCT trade expo stops at Central Energy Trust Arena on 5 August 2026, giving Manawatu builders, electricians and other trades a half-day of exhibitor stands, product updates and CPD/LBP-point workshops.
CONZTRUCT, the touring building-and-construction trade expo, arrives at Palmerston North's Central Energy Trust Arena on Wednesday 5 August 2026, running from 3pm to 6:30pm. Free to attend, the show gathers building product manufacturers, suppliers and industry bodies under one roof so that tradespeople can see new products, catch changes affecting their trade, and pick up CPD or LBP points through on-site workshops. The Palmerston North leg follows the Wellington stop the day before (4 August), part of a multi-city national roadshow.
CONZTRUCT is produced by The CMS Group (Construction Marketing Services Ltd), a New Zealand events company that specialises in trade shows for the building and electrical sectors. Rather than a single fixed expo, CONZTRUCT runs as a roadshow that moves between main centres across the country, with Palmerston North sitting alongside legs such as Wellington. The programme is backed by major trade partners including CARTERS, J.A. Russell and a large roster of building-product exhibitors ranging from GIB and James Hardie to Resene, Schneider Electric and Simpson Strong-Tie.
The expo is aimed squarely at working trade professionals: builders, electricians, architects, designers and allied trades. The draw is practical rather than corporate. Attendees can compare products in person, talk directly with manufacturers, sit in on short workshops that count toward CPD or LBP points, and network with peers. Because it is a free, half-day, after-hours format, it is built to fit around a working day on the tools.
Central Energy Trust Arena is Palmerston North's main multi-purpose events and sports complex, operated by the city council's venues team and located close to the city centre. Its combination of indoor arena and exhibition spaces suits a stand-based trade show, and its central location makes it straightforward to reach by road from around the wider Manawatu region, with on-site and nearby parking and a range of accommodation available across central Palmerston North for out-of-town visitors. The venue's own event listing confirms both the CONZTRUCT booking and the 3pm-6:30pm session time.
CONZTRUCT is a useful illustration of the roadshow model in New Zealand's business-events landscape: a single organiser replicating a compact, sector-specific expo across multiple regional venues rather than concentrating everything in Auckland or Wellington. For a secondary centre like Palmerston North, hosting a leg brings national exhibitors and trade audiences into a regional venue for an afternoon, reinforcing the role of facilities such as Central Energy Trust Arena in the national exhibition circuit and demonstrating steady, repeatable demand for regional business-event space.
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The Manawatu A&P Show 2026, run by the Manawatu A&P Association (founded 1886), takes place 7-8 November 2026 at Manfeild Park in Feilding - a two-day agricultural and pastoral show of livestock, equestrian, trade and family activities.
The New Zealand Trade & Industrial Waters Forum holds its 2026 conference at the Palmerston North Conference and Function Centre from 19-21 August, drawing trade-waste and industrial-wastewater professionals from across councils, industry and regulators to work through the impacts of the Water Services legislation.
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