An innovative insulation supplier70 years of innovation
Recovery and new challenges
The last decade of the twentieth century opened with major challenges: borders opened up to the East and environment protection became a major concern. The commitments of the Kyoto protocol and the new oil crisis changed the status quo: insulation became one of the major measures to reduce non-renewal energy consumption and therefore greenhouse gas emissions. Saint-Gobain Isover embraced this new crusade for the twenty-first century.
1993
The iron curtain came down. The world opened up and the Saint-Gobain Insulation division started to expand into Eastern Europe where insulation requirements are huge. The first markets affected were Poland (creation of Gullfiber Polska) and the Baltic countries (opening of offices in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia).
1998
Signature on 16th March of the Kyoto protocol in Japan. The world became aware of climate change and of its predictable consequences if nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Building insulation, which would save millions of barrels of oil each year, became a global issue.
2000
Globalisation became reality, as noted by Saint-Gobain Isover. All the insulation subsidiaries henceforth bore the same name and shared the same yellow logo with its characteristic O, revealed in late 1999 to the Batimat show in Paris. Isover became a global brand.
2004
Since 1986, Saint-Gobain research has tried to make high temperature-resistant fibre out of rock or glass with the TEL process: an indispensable breakthrough for naval and industrial applications. In 2004, the new generation of ULTIMATE glasswool was launched. Since, it has met with tremendous acclaim and won several awards.
2005
Saint-Gobain acquired the British Plaster Board (BPB) group, the world leader in plaster boards and plaster, the European leader in expanded polystyrene for the construction industry. Both activities (insulation and gypsum) are complementary, both in terms of product and location. The largest group working in housing and interior installations was born
2006
Saint Gobain Isover revealed the “Multi-Comfort Home” concept. Combining optimal thermal insulation, insulating windows, heat recovery and renewable energy sources, this house is cool in the summer and warm in the winter and protected from noise all year long, consuming no more energy than it produces.
2007
BPB polystyrene was integrated into the insulation activity. Development in emerging countries continued with three major acquisitions in Turkey, South Africa and Colombia. Saint-Gobain Isover celebrated the 50th anniversary of the industrialisation of the TEL process. Isover companies in France and Switzerland celebrated their 70th anniversary. Construction work on a new glasswool plant in France (in Chemilé in Maine et Loire) started.
2008
Saint Gobain Isover acquired MAG, the Japanese leader in glasswool and revealed its new visual identity: new house style, new colour (green joins the yellow and black), new packaging. The first Danish passive houses made with Saint-Gobain Isover were inaugurated.
