A new career development forum and tree planting boulevard have been added to the 25th annual Traffex exhibition for the traffic management, road safety and highway maintenance professional trades next March.

Traffex will again be co-located with the Parkex 2011 parking exhibition and Street Design public sector event at The NEC in Birmingham from 29 to 31 March 2011. Organiser Brintex Events said the Career Development Forum will assist individuals to enhance their job profile or gain new skills through presentations and one-to-one advice sessions with transport associations and recruitment consultants.

“There has been a lot of change going on in the local authorities and particularly the highway sector, where more partnerships are being made with private sector contractors. This is contributing to more career movement,” event director Bill Butler explained. “The forum will help people looking for professional development, or who are moving from local authorities to the private sector, to find the right information and organisations that can help.”

Traffex 2011 will also include a 350sqm boulevard featuring a range of mature specimen trees and tree design groups aimed at helping urban planners and architects better understand which trees to plant where, Butler said.

Combined, the 2011 shows are expected to take up 24,000sqm and encompass over 400 UK and international exhibitors from the transport, parking and street design industries.

Traffex is one of several events which will benefit from Brintex’s extended supplier relationship with Thorns Group to provide furniture to more shows in 2011.