France: Saint-Gobain plans to build a new glass wool production line at its Isover branded plant at Chemillé near Angers. The line is scheduled to start production in mid-2019. It is being built to meet rising demand in the French market for roof insulation products.

In addition, Saint-Gobain is planning to open new production lines at its plants in Azuqueca near Madrid in Spain and Vidalengo near Milan in Italy. These lines will open in spring and autumn 2018 respectively. Altogether Saint-Gobain has invested Euro45m in the upgrades with the majority placed in Chemillé.

US: The German vacuum panel insulation product manufacturer Va-Q-tec has opened its new headquarters in the UY at Langhorne, Pennsylvania. The new site will become the US welcome and innovation centre and showcase Va-Q-tec’s latest products. In addition, Va-Q-tec will also manufacture its small box containers in Langhorne and will use the location as a hub for its rental and repair station. Although the new site will focus on thermal packaging products for industries such as the pharmaceutical sector the company also manufactures vacuum panel insulation products for the construction industry.

Spain: Óscar del Río has been appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Knauf Insulation Iberia. He suceeds Daniele Cerutti, according to Alimarket. Del Río has worked for Knauf for 18 years in a variety of different roles. He started at Knauf Industries, one of the subsidiaries of the group dedicated to the manufacture of expanded polystyrene insulation, as a regional commercial manager. Later he becacme head of sales for Knauf Insulation in 2007 and commercial director for the Mediterranean region in 2014. He was appointed as the director general of Knauf Insulation Iberia in November 2017.

Belgium: The European Insulation Manufacturers Association (Eurima) has supported a European Parliament vote approving a 35% European Union (EU) energy efficiency target. The adopted proposals on the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) and the EU Governance regulation has also strengthen Article 7 (Energy Efficiency Obligation Schemes).

“With yesterday’s votes, ‘Energy Efficiency First’ now starts to become more than a slogan. When 76% of our efforts towards COP21 must come from energy efficiency, tapping into the savings resting in the buildings sector we are cost-effectively bridging the gap between reality and the COP21 objectives. In this respect, the outcomes of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, EED and EU Governance show that the Parliament is ready to send a strong signal to the Council,” said Jan te Bos, the Director General of Eurima.