| Next edition | 16–18 Mar 2027 · ExCeL London |
|---|---|
| Starting price | £3,950+ |
| Venue | ExCeL London |
| Visitors | 10,000+ |
| Exhibitors | 150+ |
| Duration | 3 days |
| Quote turnaround | 48hr |
The Cleaning Show Stand Builders: ExCeL Logistics, Live Machinery, and What Wins FM Buyers
The Cleaning Show is the UK's largest and longest-running event for the cleaning, hygiene and facilities-management industry, held at ExCeL and supported by the British Cleaning Council. It runs every two years, drawing around 10,000 visitors — cleaning contractors, FM teams, and buyers from the NHS, hospitality and the public sector.
Buyers here want to see equipment working, not pictured, so the brief is demonstration plus serious conversation: a stand that can run live machinery safely, shows your product range clearly, and gives you space to talk through a contract. That puts practical services — power, water and floor protection — at the centre of the design.
For suppliers that means the design starts from the demo and the services it needs, then builds the selling environment around it. Get the power, water and floor protection right and the demo sells the product; get them wrong and the centrepiece of your stand can't run.
Building at ExCeL London: the rules that shape your stand
ExCeL is a pillar-free hall with around 10m of clear internal height, but your stand does not get all of it. For space-only stands the working height limit at most ExCeL shows is 6m, and anything ExCeL classes as a complex structure — double-deckers, heavy suspended elements, long unsupported spans — triggers a formal sign-off you need to budget time for, not just money.
Complex designs must be submitted with engineering calculations applying a minimum factor of safety of 1.5. An independent structural engineer reviews the drawings and, if satisfied, issues a Certificate of Structural Adequacy at design stage, which releases your Certificate to Build; the same engineer inspects the stand on site during build-up before you can open. Miss a calculation or submit late and you do not build.
Overhead rigging is controlled tightly: all primary rigging to the ceiling is installed exclusively by ExCeL's own team, ordered through ExCeL's webshop and confirmed around 28 days before tenancy for the advance rate. Lightweight static items hang from drop wires up to 50kg; heavier loads are separate, costlier orders.
The smaller rules catch people out too: platforms above 170mm need ramped, accessible access; solid walls along an open gangway edge are generally not allowed; only water-based paint may be used on site; and every structure must be fully self-supporting. We design to all of this from the first sketch and submit the venue paperwork, so the build you approve is the build that opens.
What a winning stand needs
The strongest Cleaning Show stands let buyers watch the product do its job. We design a demo area sized and serviced for your machinery, a clear product wall or display for the wider range, and a meeting space for the contract conversations that follow a good demo. Hard-wearing flooring and a layout that keeps watching visitors safely clear of moving equipment matter as much as the look.
Because many exhibitors sell on contract rather than impulse, the stand has to support a proper sales conversation — seating, somewhere to lay out terms, and storage for literature and samples — not just a product display.
Branding and clarity still matter under all the machinery: a buyer should grasp what you do and which sector you serve before they reach the stand, so we give the range clear, readable signage and keep the demonstration legible as a demonstration — it's surprising how often a strong product gets lost in a busy, unstructured stand.
We also design for the wear a working stand takes — floors that survive equipment being wheeled on and off, surfaces that wipe clean, and fixings that hold up to three days of handling — so the stand still looks professional rather than scuffed by the final afternoon.
Plan power, water and floor protection early
Live demos need services, and ordering them late is where budgets slip. We scope your power and water requirements against the machines you're demonstrating, order them from ExCeL's appointed contractor at the advance rate, and design in floor protection and drainage for wet or heavy demonstrations. Getting this right at design stage avoids both surcharges and a demo that can't actually run.
We also think through waste and noise: where wet demos drain to, how to keep the surrounding stand dry and safe, and how to stop a loud machine demonstration drowning out conversation at your meeting table. These are design decisions, not site afterthoughts.
What a Cleaning Show stand costs
A turnkey stand typically runs roughly £3,950–£12,500 for a compact custom build, £12,500–£28,000 for a mid-size build with a serviced demo area and meeting space, and £28,000 and up for a flagship build. Demo services, floor protection and the amount of bespoke display usually move the number most.
Quotes are turnkey — design, build, demo-area fit-out, graphics, lighting, delivery to ExCeL, install, dismantle and the venue paperwork are all included, and demo services such as power and water are ordered on your behalf. The demo specification and floor protection are usually what move the number.
Stand sizes and layouts
Stand sizes run from compact spaces for first-time suppliers up to large builds for the major manufacturers. The layout question is how to give a demo room to run while keeping the rest of the stand working — we separate the demo zone from the meeting and display areas so a noisy or wet demonstration doesn't take over the whole stand.
We keep watching visitors safely clear of moving or wet equipment through the layout itself — a defined demo zone, clear sightlines to it, and a separate meeting and display area — so the stand can run a busy demonstration and a contract conversation at the same time.
If your range spans several categories — machinery, chemicals, consumables and software — we zone the stand so each reads clearly and a buyer can head straight to what they came for rather than hunting through a single undifferentiated display. That zoning also lets a noisy machinery demonstration sit apart from the quieter consumables and software conversations, so different parts of your range can sell at the same time without competing for the same square metre.
Getting into ExCeL: build-up timing
As a biennial show in a busy March window, build-up is tightly scheduled and services book up early. We confirm your space-only window, order rigging, power and water at the advance rate, coordinate floor protection, and crate to a schedule that lands the stand inside its slot rather than paying on-site surcharges.
We coordinate the water supply and drainage for wet demos specifically, since these are easy to overlook at booking and expensive to add on site once build-up has started.
Reusing your stand between editions
Because the show is biennial, the gap between editions is two years — so a stored, modular stand that we refresh and re-service for the next edition is usually better value than building new each time. We keep your demo-services plan and layout on file so the next build starts from what already worked.
Because the gap is two years, we store the stand properly and check and refresh services and finishes before the next edition, so a biennial exhibitor still arrives with a stand that looks current rather than two years old.
Next step for your The Cleaning Show stand
Send us your space size, hall position and goals for The Cleaning Show. You'll get a custom 3D concept and a fixed, all-inclusive quote within 48 hours — designed to ExCeL's rules, with structural sign-off built into the timeline if your design needs it. We build in-house and install at ExCeL London, so the stand you approve in the rendering is the stand that opens.
We also design and build exhibition stands for other major UK shows — see the full show calendar for cleaning & facilities and beyond, all with the same in-house team, fixed all-in pricing and full venue paperwork.