Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

UK: Only 18% of UK housing stock conforms with standards set in 2002, according to a study by utilities provider EDF and property data company Sprift. This represents a rise from 7.5% in the previous study conducted in May 2022. 41% of homes fail to meet standards set later than 1976, down from 60% in May 2022. The average ‘insulation age’ of UK housing is 41 years old, 11% younger than the age of 46 years old recorded in the previous study.

Germany: Kingspan acquired the Ronneburg stone wool insulation plant in Thuringia from Karl Bachl on 4 April 2024. Karl Bachl says that the divestment will help it to concentrate more on its core business. Besides insulation, the company also supplies construction services, prefabricated buildings and stone and precast concrete elements.

Ireland-based Kingspan plans to use the acquisition to grow its production capacity and ‘complete’ its insulation product offering.

Hungary: The government plans to avail citizens of €280m in subsidy for residential refurbishments that increase efficiency, beginning in June 2024. The initiative aims to help renovate 20,000 homes, installing new insulation, boilers, doors and window frames. Local press has reported that that homeowners who contribute €2800 may receive up to €16,800. The goal of the scheme is to reduce gas consumption in line with EU policy. It has backing from the EU's Recovery and Resilience Facility, and is expected to generate €650m in additional orders for Hungarian building materials producers.

Poland: Austria-based Hirsch Servo Group has concluded a deal to acquire expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulation producer Tyron. Hirsch Servo Group previously acquired EPS assets in Romania through its takeover of Arcon’s insulating materials division in 2016.

APA Economic News has reported that Hirsch Servo Group chair Harald Kogler said "By entering the Polish insulation market, we not only see a significant expansion of our product portfolio but also important impulses for our already established production sites in Wrocław and Łódź, which primarily focus on packaging production."

Kazakhstan: TechnoNICOL has inaugurated its new US$20m, Almaty extruded polystyrene (XPS) insulation plant in the Kairat Industrial Zone. Once fully operational, the plant will have a capacity of 400,000m³/yr, AK&M News has reported. Exports to Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan will follow the launch of the plant’s products on the Kazakh market later in 2024.