At the annual general meeting of the German Cork Association in Herford on 13 May, re-elections were held for the executive committee. Tomas Cordes (Amorim Deutschland GmbH, Delmenhorst) and Volker Henjes (F. August Henjes GmbH & Co., Oyten) were unanimously confirmed in office and re-elected. Also unanimously elected were Rüdiger Bleckmann (Heinrich Gültig Korkwarenfabrik GmbH, Heilbronn), who stood as candidate for the retiring representative of the working group on seals on the executive committee of the DKV, Ulrike Schaeidt (Korkindustrie Trier GmbH & Co. KG, Trier).
At the annual general meeting of the Bielefeld-based German Cork Association (DKV) held in Cologne in mid-May, another new full member was welcomed to membership of the association. The company, Léonwood Holz-Blockhaus GmbH, from Teichland-Maust near Cottbus, joined the DKV.
Association President Tomas Cordes thanked company founder and owner Dieter Schenkling for his decision to now exert an influence with full rights on the destiny of the cork industry in Germany. Schenkling had already been an associate member of the association since late 2012 and provided it with support in the form of proactive marketing in his own company and comprehensive know-how in the field of insulation and the use of cork as an insulation material.
With over 20 years of experience in building log houses, Léonwood builds its houses throughout Europe. The spectrum on offer covers the whole range of typical wall designs: along with round logs, natural logs and simple squared log planks, the “bio double-wall” has proved to be the most popular log wall for owner-builders. The principle of the “bio double-wall” revolves around a two-shell wall structure made of squared solid timber planks with cork granules for insulation in between. The “polar concept” developed by Léonwood in 2011 features nine construction components for optimum heat efficiency in a log house. These include the use of cork as a construction material for the insulation of the floors, walls and roofs. The use of cork in the reference house “New Finland” (195 square meters, two people) resulted in a reduction of Euro 299 in energy costs in the test year of 2012.
The German Cork Association (Deutsche Kork-Verband e.V. [DKV]) was founded in 1985. The purpose of the association is to represent and promote all the shared interests of the companies organized within the association. In addition to representing the interests of the member companies in relation to industrial policy, the main focus of the association’s activities is on quality assurance for products made of cork, improvements in methods of production and processing, and in the initiation and promotion of research projects on the renewable natural product cork and the end products made from it.