Enhancing the view NorDan

ENHANCING THE VIEW

NorDan Group, the Norwegian manufacturer of windows, doors and smart accessories, not only pursued business expansion during the pandemic months but also progressed toward higher levels of environmental protection. Romana Moares reports.

Since its founding in 1926, the NorDan Group has grown to become one of Europe’s prime manufacturers of windows, doors and smart accessories. There have been many changes and milestones in the company’s development over the years but one thing remains the same: the NorDan Group continues to be a family-owned company, run by the same basic values as when it was first founded.

The group’s head office is in Moi, Norway, the exact same place the company was founded over 90 years ago, but its operations have spread far and wide - a high degree of local presence has been an important contributor to NorDan’s unique market position.

NorDan is today present in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the UK, Ireland, Poland and Lithuania. Today the group consists of 12 factories and 30 project management offices with over 2,000 employees, and these serve the construction industry primarily in Scandinavia and the UK in line with each market’s requirements and demands. UK presence

The group has been present in the UK for over 40 years and aspires to become the leading Scandinavian window supplier to the UK housing market. The list of projects with NorDan’s involvement is extensive, and the group’s position continues to be strong.

In March 2021, NorDan was awarded a contract to supply windows and doors for two new developments in the London Borough of Lewisham. As well as front-end product manufacturing, NorDan also offers complete standardisation of any aftersales product requirements. This includes ancillary items such as handles and vents.

Also in March, the group won one of the first major contracts for NorDan in the Welsh market, the Heol Y Ffynnon project in Brecon. NorDan will supply timber window and door products as part of a £5.1 million (€5.95 million) affordable housing development, the first affordable housing development for social rent in over forty years.

Designed and manufactured to resist the harsh Norwegian winters, NorDan timber products far exceed the British standards for weather performance, so they were the ideal solution for Heol Y Ffynnon, notorious for having substantial rainfall.

Environmental agenda

Quality and reliability are not the only attributes of NorDan’s products. Sustainability and environmental thinking are also an integral part of the group’s identity. From using renewable energy to improved certification for environmental management, NorDan’s factories are already busy planning for an even more sustainable future.

The company’s environmental focus has not gone unnoticed. Spearheaded by the world’s first 3D-printed bio composite window, NorDan recently received international recognition for their product development and quality management in a sustainability perspective, by the independent International Academy for Quality.

As a world’s first, NorDan showcased a circular window unlike any other in late 2019: traditionally, timber windows are manufactured

using six-metre-long stock being cut, milled and processed before being assembled into the final product. For circular windows this is very resource intensive and often involved a significant amount of waste.

NorDan’s award winning solution involved an entirely new approach. Instead of beginning with a window that is larger than the final product and removing material from it – so-called subtractive manufacturing – new technology was implemented that allowed for additive manufacturing. By only applying material where it is needed, NorDan’s industrial grade 3D printer manufacturing line allows for a far more efficient use of the biocomposite material while at the same time reducing the amount of manual finishing needed.

Expanding the reach

The group’s rapid international expansion has continued during the pandemic. In January, NorDan Group entered Denmark by acquiring 70% of the shares in the Danish window manufacturer STM Vinduer AS. The acquisition marked an important milestone, with NorDan returning to Denmark nearly 95 years after the company’s Danish founder originally moved to Norway and established the window and door manufacturer in 1926.

NorDan Gruppen CEO, Tore Rasmussen, commented: “NorDan holds a strong position in Norway, Sweden, the UK and Ireland, but Denmark has until now remained outside our core markets. Johannes Rasmussen came from Denmark to Norway and founded the company, and the name ‘NorDan’ itself is an abbreviation of ‘Norway Danmark’. I am very pleased to be coming full circle and finally establishing a NorDan presence in Denmark.”

Further acquisitions have followed. Effective February 2020, the NorDan Group acquired 100% of the shares in the Irish subsidiary NorDan Vinduer Ltd., and in October, the Norwegian façade builder and aluminium solutions provider AS Rubicon became the most recent member of the NorDan Group. These acquisitions are set to further strengthen the commitment to providing reliable and sustainable products to the group’s key markets. n