With commercial headquarters in Barcelona and a factory in Caparroso (Navarra), ROCKWOOL Peninsular employs more than 230 people who work for the Spanish and Portuguese markets. The company is part of the ROCKWOOL Group, founded in 1937 in Denmark. It operates in more than 40 countries and has more than 12,400 employees.
“At ROCKWOOL we work not only to reduce the impact we generate with our activity on society and the planet, but also to promote a positive impact through different lines of action; from the reduction of the operational carbon footprint and the promotion of circularity in our products, to raising awareness about resilience to fire in the rehabilitation of buildings and the promotion of healthy homes”, explains Miguel Ángel Gallardo, director of the unit of business in Spain and Portugal.
The group is a world leader in stone wool solutions for both building insulation and acoustic ceilings as well as for exterior cladding systems, engineered fibers designed for industrial uses and insulation for industrial processes, maritime and off-shore platforms.
"One of the keys that has consolidated our world leadership is that we have specialized in producing insulation materials exclusively 100% rock wool," says Gallardo.
ROCKWOOL products protect people, help tackle climate change, resource scarcity and help make the world a better and safer place. All this thanks to the intrinsic qualities of the rock, which make it a unique material: it is resilient to fire, withstanding temperatures above 1,000º and does not spread smoke or toxic gases in the event of a fire; It is an insulating material that allows maintaining the optimum temperature inside buildings and reduces temperature variations.
In the same way that it is a good thermal insulator, it maintains excellent acoustics, thanks to its ability to absorb noise. It is a material with great robustness and durability, capable of maintaining its shape and performance despite changes in temperature and humidity for more than 55 years. Stone wool is a circular material, which can be recycled over and over again.
“Sustainability is one of the fundamental pillars in our corporate strategy, which is why we have committed ourselves to 10 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, which serve as a plan to build a better tomorrow. In addition, we adhered to the Science-Based Targets (SBTi) initiative and committed ourselves to achieving ambitious decarbonization targets,” explains Miguel Ángel Gallardo.
ROCKWOOL has a number of sustainability commitments. At a global level, it stands out to reduce all production waste that goes to landfill by 85% before 2030. And the fact is that the construction sector in Spain is positioned as the industry that generates the most waste. In this sense, in order to respond to this problem, and given that stone wool is a product that can be recycled over and over again, ROCKWOOOL has launched the ROCKCYCLE service, a circular economy service that consists of facilitating the removal of ROCKWOOL stone wool products and pallets from construction or demolition sites and ensures the reuse or recycling of the material.
ROCKWOOL was the first insulation manufacturer in Spain to launch it and in 2021 it allowed the volume of recovered material that was recycled to increase by 23% compared to the previous year. In addition, the recycling of this material in its factories contributes to reducing its carbon emissions by up to 10%.
Energy efficiency is another important factor to take into account, since the reality is that buildings are responsible for 40% of energy consumption in many countries, and a similar level of global CO2 emissions. With ROCKWOOL solutions, we can reduce the heating and cooling demand of buildings by 70%, improving their energy efficiency. Thus, the rehabilitation of buildings with insulating materials such as rock wool is emerging as one of the most profitable solutions to save energy.
“Our objective is to make the Spanish population aware of how our buildings should be constructed or rehabilitated, with adequate insulation during all seasons of the year, to guarantee quality construction and offer greater safety and quality of life to people, avoiding summer and winter energy poverty, a major current problem in society”, declares Miguel Ángel Gallardo.
Changing the world is in the hands of each and every one of us, and ROCKWOOL works in various areas that include social projects and environmental improvement. For example, they collaborate with the Red Cross of Navarra to support social projects in the community and, in addition, they sponsor the Solidarity Race against Cancer in Navarra, organized by the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), with the aim of raising resources that will go to research against this disease.
ROCKWOOL also participates, sponsoring the Danish team, in the SAIL GP, an event that is a world reference powered by clean energy and that promotes sustainability through innovation at a global and local level. Within this competition, the Danish team also participates in the Impact League, an initiative parallel to the circuit that rewards the team that most reduces its global carbon footprint and accelerates inclusion in sailing. In this regard, ROCKWOOL also collaborates with the OneOcean Foundation, a global non-profit organization that works with international leaders, companies, institutions and individuals to accelerate solutions to ocean problems.
