Guelph, ON green builder shares his experiences with Europeans at Warsaw, Poland trade mission

Editor’s Note:  Guelph, ON “green builder” Ben Polley and his firm (Evolve Builders, Guelph, ON) have come a long way since we first featured them as a straw bale home builder in the first couple years of Canadian Contractor’s existence, back around 2003-4.  Now Ben has become so well-known as a green building expert that he was invited to be a part of an international trade mission to Warsaw, Poland.

Here at Canadian Contractor, we continue to enjoy Ben’s frequent posts about eco- and sustainable building techniques and products.

October 21, 2014 – Guelph-based green home builder and manufacturer of naturally built portable classrooms, Ben Polley, recently returned (Oct. 18) from Warsaw where he participated in an international trade mission as a guest of the Polish government and the European Union.

Polley, founder of Evolve Builders Group Inc and mobEE eco-portables, was hosted at multiple matchmaking meetings between Polish and pan-European environmentally focused suppliers and their invited Canadian counterparts. Polley was one of just 14 participants selected from across Canada for the week-long program.

“I am proud that Evolve was identified as a world-class company, worthy of inclusion in an international trade program. I was also pleasantly surprised with the breadth and extent of foreign business interest in Evolve’s work and real possibilities for trans-Atlantic partnership,” Polley said.

A targeted effort to promote green businesses in Poland to international entrepreneurs and media, the Canadian delegates met with representatives of the City of Lodz’s Special Economic Zone Chamber of Commerce and toured POLEKO, the largest international business-to-business trade fair of environmental protection firms in Eastern Europe. Polley was among the most popular participants in a series of organized business mixers. European representatives made unsolicited requests to license Evolve’s building and business processes while Polley, in turn, negotiated prospective distributorships for unique products not currently manufactured domestically.

“I intend to nurture these relationships. Evolve’s future clients will benefit from our having made these important personal introductions with European Passive House and green building suppliers,” Polley said.