Leading Irish manufacturer and a world leader in insulation, Kingspan Insulation was honoured by the Irish Australian Chamber of Commerce (IACC) at their annual Business Awards gala dinner in Sydney recently. Kingspan Insulation’s win in the Established Business category cements their entry into the Asia Pacific region.

Though their Australian operation constitutes a small part of Kingspan Insulation’s global market share, IACC’s recognition acknowledges the company’s commitment to innovation, sustainable practice and the advancement of Irish manufacturing on a global scale.

Kingspan Insulation highlighted their achievements in sustainable building and renewable energy by showcasing their state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Somerton, Victoria and demonstrating best practice in their business processes, company values and vision.

“At Kingspan we aim for a better built environment and more sustainable buildings. We strive for this in all aspects of our business; it is great to see that work is being recognised on a global scale. We are proud to lead the industry in this space,” commented Neil Cox, Kingspan Insulation’s Marketing Manager.

Opened in early 2017, Kingspan Insulation’s Australian manufacturing facility is built to meet the requirements needed to become Australia’s first 5-Star Green Star manufacturing facility. The multi-million dollar facility’s success has allowed Kingspan Insulation to create employment opportunities in production, sales, marketing and administration, resulting in the company increasing their presence in the Australian, South East Asian and New Zealand markets.

A 750kW solar system designed and installed into the manufacturing facility’s roof structure earlier this year is expected to meet most of the plant’s daytime-shift energy requirements and has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by over 600 tonnes per year.

“Kingspan believes it is imperative as a global supplier to the built environment to take a leadership position in respect to sustainable manufacturing practices. We have a global commitment to have all our manufacturing facilities worldwide achieve net zero energy status by 2020. To this end, we champion clean air and water conservation initiatives and low-energy smart lighting systems such as those in our Somerton factory,” said Neil Cox.