Making the construction industry greener

In 1959, Harald Kvasnes from Vegsund, near Ålesund, designed a fitting and a window whose frame could be rotated 180 degrees without swinging into the room. This made it easy to clean and maintain the window from inside. The fitting was patented, and the window was registered under the Husmorvinduet trademark, later renamed H-Vinduet.

This type of window helped revolutionise the Norwegian window market and has since become by far the most widely used window type in Norway. These outward-opening windows also have a strong presence in Sweden and are well established in the UK. Today, Spilka Industri sells fittings and associated system solutions for manufacturing these windows, with customers in more than 20 countries.

The patent for the H-window generated strong revenues for the Ålesund-based company for many years, but further growth required an entirely new venture.

The construction industry is known as the '40 per cent industry' because it accounts for 40 per cent of global energy consumption, waste, raw material extraction and greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change is also bringing more extreme and wetter weather, leaving buildings more exposed to the elements. Rot damage in buildings is an increasing concern for insurers.

Spilka Industri sees these challenges as opportunities for innovation. Having developed, manufactured and sold products for many years, the company already has extensive expertise in steel and aluminium. It now aims to create new products based on these materials.

Following a pilot project co-funded by us, the company identified, among other things, a need for simple, robust fixing systems for façade panels.

'We have invested significant resources in this project over a long period, and we are proud to present Fixade, which may be the best façade cladding system on the market today,' says Terje Bøe, CEO of Spilka Industri.

Our financial adviser Magne Aarsnes in Møre og Romsdal is confident that the company will continue to grow.

'We want to support the company's ambitions to win customers and enter markets internationally. The project has been assessed as environmentally friendly and has significant export potential,' he says, adding that the project has played an important role for the company during a period of transition.

There is strong interest in the product, laying the foundation for rapid growth. The façade cladding initiative has now been established as a separate subsidiary, Spilka Building Solutions (SBS).

'Fixade gives architects the freedom to experiment with colours and elements to give the building a distinctive character. It keeps time on site to a minimum and eliminates offcuts and installation waste,' says Bøe.

He says they offer a 60-year guarantee, and if the building is demolished for any reason, the panels and fastening system can easily be dismantled and reused on a new building. At the end of its service life, the fastening system can be recycled and turned into a new fastening system, aircraft parts or drinks cans.