Knauf Insulation launches new center for sustainable building excellence

The new center will provide practical insight into how to create low-carbon, energy efficient buildings that are healthy, comfortable and fire safe while tackling Europe’s unskilled labour crisis by equipping installers with the expertise they need to deliver real energy-saving performance.

During the opening, Knauf Insulation also unveiled the installation of 6,000 photovoltaic panels that will provide the company’s Visé Mineral Wool plant with 1,700 MWh every year elevating the site into the top four industries in Wallonia in terms of photovoltaic electricity production. This installation will save 790 tonnes of CO₂ year – the equivalent CO₂ emissions of 525 households.

Jean-Claude Carlin, Knauf Insulation’s Group CEO, said: “Buildings are responsible for 40% of energy consumption and 36% of CO₂ emissions in the European Union and almost 75% of the EU’s building stock is inefficient¹. This is wasteful, expensive and environmentally disastrous.

“Our new 500m² Knauf Insulation Experience Center will enable the upgrading of buildings to greater levels of low-carbon energy efficiency and significantly improve their performance in terms of fire safety, thermal and acoustic comfort as well as ensuring indoor air quality excellence.”

The center features full-scale reconstructions of a pitched roof, ventilated façade, internal and external walls, wall cavities, a loft and internal partitions as well as specialised SUPAFIL MAX Frame System equipment that installs blowing wool in prefabricated building panels.

Each reconstruction reveals in detail how Knauf Insulation solutions are tailored to deliver real energy savings in different areas of buildings as well as demonstrating the best way to install these solutions to maximise their performance in terms of fire safety and interior health and comfort.

Mark Leverton, Knauf Insulation’s Managing Director Western Europe, said: “Europe is facing a shortage of skilled labour and this center will provide the certified expertise installers need to improve their skills.

“In addition it will build on Knauf Insulation’s vision of focused customer centricity by improving the energy efficiency and building comfort of installers’ customers.”

Also attending the official opening was Pierre-Yves Jeholet, Wallonia’s Minister for Economy, Industry, Innovation, Digitalisation and Employment.

• To learn more about the Knauf Insulation Experience Center in Belgium visit experiencecenter.knaufinsulation.eu

About Knauf Insulation

Knauf Insulation is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of insulation products and solutions. With more than 40 years of experience in the insulation industry, we represent one of the fastest growing and most respected names in insulation worldwide. We employ over 5,500 people in more than 35 countries. We have 38 manufacturing sites in 16 countries, with a strong and steady financial performance with turnover exceeding €1.7 billion in 2017.

Our mission is to challenge conventional thinking and create innovative insulation solutions that shape the way we live and build in the future, with care for the people who make them, the people who use them and the world we all depend on.

Sources

1 https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/energy-efficiency/energy-performance-of-building