VELUX is a Danish manufacturing company that specialises in

roof window A roof window is an outward opening window that is incorporated as part of the design of a roof. Often confused with a skylight, a roof window differs in a few basic ways. A roof window is often a good option when there is a desire to allow both ...

s, skylights, suntunnels and related accessories. The company is headquartered in

Hørsholm Hørsholm () is an urban area on the Øresund coast approximately north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It covers most of Hørsholm Municipality and straddles the borders neighbouring Fredensborg Municipality and Rudersdal Municipality. Hørsholm prop ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

and is a part of VKR Holding A/S. VELUX Group is a founding partner of the global Active House Alliance. The name VELUX originates from the Latin word '' ventus'' meaning wind and '' lux'' meaning light.

History

VELUX was founded in 1941 by Villum Kann Rasmussen. Kann Rasmussen patented his first window in 1942, which was designed to make use of

natural light Natural Light, sometimes Natty Light, is an American reduced-calorie light lager brewed by Anheuser-Busch since its introduction on July 31, 1977. Its ingredients are listed as water, barley malt, cereal grains, yeast, and hops. One serving c ...

and let in air to ventilate previously dark and stuffy lofts. In 1952, the company started its international expansion, offering its products in Sweden and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. By 1965, VELUX Group had expanded into 12 markets and, by the early 1970s, had grown from around 300 to more than 1,000 employees. In 1975, VELUX Group expanded to the US and a factory was built there in 1978. In the early 1980s, VELUX expanded to Central and Eastern Europe and by the end of the decade, the company had moved into markets in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

, and Australia. In 1992, Rasmussen's eldest son, Lars Kann-Rasmussen, born in 1964, took over from Villum, who chaired the management of V. Kann Rasmussen Industrie — the parent company of the Velux Group. Villum died in 1993 at the age of 84 years. In the next decades, Lars modernized and built the VELUX group into an international company. At the beginning of the 21st century, the VELUX Group employed more than 10,000 employees at production sites in 11 countries.

Organisation

Velux GGL-7 Center-Pivot Roof Window, 1986 Model

VELUX has 27 production sites in 11 countries and sales companies in 36 countries. The VELUX Group employs 12,500 employees worldwide. The VELUX Group is owned by VKR Holding A/S, a limited company wholly owned by non-profit, charitable foundations (THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS) and family. In 2021, VKR Holding had total revenue of EUR 3.5 billion and THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS donated EUR 244 million in charitable grants.

Products

In addition to roof windows for

flat roof A flat roof is a roof which is almost level in contrast to the many types of sloped roofs. The slope of a roof is properly known as its pitch and flat roofs have up to approximately 10°. Flat roofs are an ancient form mostly used in arid c ...

s and

pitched roof Roof pitch is the steepness of a roof expressed as a ratio of inch(es) rise per horizontal foot (or their metric equivalent), or as the angle in degrees its surface deviates from the horizontal. A flat roof has a pitch of zero in either insta ...

s, VELUX offers many other types of products like:

blinds A window blind is a type of window covering. There are many different kinds of window blinds which use a variety of control systems. A typical window blind is made up of several long horizontal or vertical slats of various types of hard mater ...

roller shutter A roller shutter, security shutter, coiling door, roller door or sectional overhead door is a type of door or window shutter consisting of many horizontal slats (or sometimes bars or web systems) hinged together. The door is raised to open it ...

s, and smart home products for easier operation.

Sustainability

In 1965, VELUX founder Villum Kann Rasmussen formulated the Model Company Objective, upon which the company's values, principles and ways of operating are based. The company's Sustainability Strategy 2030, launched in 2020 is a 10-year strategy called ‘It’s our nature’. The strategy is split into three areas: ‘pioneer climate and nature action’, ‘innovate sustainable products’, and ‘secure a responsible business´. VELUX Group entered a

partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments ...

with the

Worldwide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...

(WWF) in 2020 and pledged to capture the company's historical CO₂ emissions through forest conservation projects. This means taking responsibility for both past and future carbon emissions. The company aims to become Lifetime Carbon Neutral by 2041.

Sponsorships

The company has previously sponsored

Velux 5 Oceans Race The Velux 5 Oceans Race was a round-the-world single-handed yacht race, sailed in stages, managed by Clipper Ventures since 2000. Its most recent name comes from its main sponsor Velux. Originally known as the BOC Challenge, for the title sponsor ...

and the

EHF Champions League The Men's EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men ...

References

External links

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by Discovery Channel {{Authority control Building materials companies of Denmark Danish companies established in 1941 Companies based in Hørsholm Municipality Glassmaking companies of Denmark Danish brands