Kingspan Group plc is a building materials company based in
Ireland trading in over 70 countries with 159 factories employing over 15,000 people. The company operates with five divisions; Insulated Panels, Insulation, Light & Air, Water & Energy, and, Data & Flooring.
History
Founded in the 1960s by
Eugene Murtagh, the company floated on the
Irish Stock Exchange
Euronext Dublin (formerly The Irish Stock Exchange, ISE; ga, Stocmhalartán na hÉireann) is Ireland's main stock exchange, and has been in existence since 1793.
The Euronext Dublin lists debt and fund securities and is used as a European ga ...
in 1989 with a value of IR£20m. It expanded into
insulated panels and rigid insulation board via numerous greenfield plants, and acquisitions including the European insulation arm of
CRH plc CRH may refer to:
* Calibre radius head, a traditional British ordnance term for a concept in ballistic projectile design
* Celtic Resources Holdings, an Irish mining company
* China Railway High-speed, a high-speed railway service operated by China ...
in 2010 and the construction division of
ThyssenKrupp Steel in 2012. The year 2010 showed the first growth in sales for three years.
Acquisitions
Commitments
Innovation
Kingspan Group's new global innovation centre, 'IKON', opened in 2019 in Kingscourt, Ireland, next to the head office. Designed by 'MILLIMETRE DESIGN' (Dublin), it comprises 18 Kingspan products serving as a 'state-of-the-art' place of research and living research project. The facility has been modelled with a
Digital Twin and leverages input from sensors, IoT devices,
Virtual Reality (VR)
Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), edu ...
, Autodesk Forge and BIM Data to further enhance operational efficiency.
Sustainability
Approximately 39% of all greenhouse gas (CO
2 and CO
2e) emissions globally come from construction and buildings in operation so it is vital that more buildings decarbonise by incorporating insulation and using increasingly energy efficient appliances.
In 2020, Kingspan Group achieved its fourth appearance on CDP’s prestigious ‘A-list’ for climate change. Joining the Renewable Energy 100 (RE100) initiative in 2010, the Group achieved Net Zero Energy across all manufacturing and office facilities globally by 2019. In 2019, the Group joined the Circular Economy 100 (CE100) initiative as a member.
Kingspan Group also launched its 10-year ‘Planet Passionate’ sustainability programme in 2019, consisting of twelve targets focused on the four key areas of; Energy, Carbon, Circularity and Water. One carbon target is to achieve net zero carbon manufacturing and a '50% reduction in product CO
2 intensity from primary supply partners'. One circularity target is to upcycle 1 billion PET bottles into insulation by 2025, up from 256 million in 2018.
Mercedes Formula One Team sponsorship controversy
On 1 December 2021, the
Mercedes F1 team
Mercedes-Benz, a brand of the Mercedes-Benz Group, has been involved in Formula One as both team owner and engine manufacturer for various periods since 1954. The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, which is based in Brackley, England, and possesses ...
signed a sponsorship deal with the Kingspan Group. This announcement drew criticism from
Grenfell United and from UK government minister,
Michael Gove
Michael Andrew Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations since 2021. He has been Member of Parli ...
. Mercedes subsequently agreed to review its decision and Mercedes F1 team boss,
Toto Wolff, offered to meet and listen to the Grenfell fire survivors. On 8 December 2021, it was announced the deal between Kingspan and Mercedes F1 Team had been terminated with immediate effect.
Grenfell Tower fire
In November 2020, the
official inquiry into the 2017
Grenfell Tower fire
On 14 June 2017, a high-rise fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of flats in North Kensington, West London, at 00:54 BST and burned for 60 hours. 72 people died, two later in hospital, with more than 70 injured and 223 escapin ...
heard evidence from Kingspan ex-technical director Ivor Meredith that Kingspan insulation product Kooltherm K15 was used in the flammable
cladding system mounted on to Grenfell Tower, despite Kingspan knowing that the product did not meet the required fire standard.
Around 5% of the insulation in the cladding on the tower was manufactured by Kingspan whilst the rest was manufactured by a major competitor. A previous version of the product had passed fire tests, but Meredith described a fire test using the version of the product used on Grenfell as a "raging inferno", with the insulation "burning on its own steam".
[
Also in November 2020, the inquiry learned that Kingspan director Philip Heath had said, in 2008, that consultants who raised concerns about the combustibility of its product could "go f*ck themselves", and that they were "getting me confused with someone who gives a dam ic.
Near the end of November 2020, it emerged that Kingspan executives had sold at least £6.5M of shares in the company shortly before Kingspan's inquiry hearings were due to start. Kingspan's share price fell 15% over the course of the hearings.
On 8 December 2020, the inquiry saw evidence that in November 2016, Kingspan technical staff had acknowledged internally that Kingspan was selling its Kooltherm K15 foam insulation product as less flammable than it really was.
On 9 December 2020, the inquiry was told that after the Grenfell fire, Kingspan had invested in a ]smear campaign
A smear campaign, also referred to as a smear tactic or simply a smear, is an effort to damage or call into question someone's reputation, by propounding negative propaganda. It makes use of discrediting tactics.
It can be applied to individual ...
against rival companies' products. The campaign involved secretly using non-standard test rigs to artificially create the appearance that non-flammable rival products might in fact be flammable, and hiring lobbyists to push the results before policymakers such as the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee and other MPs.
See also
* List of companies of Ireland
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Companies listed on Euronext Dublin
Building materials companies
Manufacturing companies of Ireland
Construction and civil engineering companies of Ireland
Multinational companies headquartered in the Republic of Ireland
Irish brands
Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1966
Irish companies established in 1966