For Amorim Cork Insulation, innovation is a dynamic process that is reinvented daily to offer answers to the many challenges posed to the company by architects, engineers and landscapers. Starting with expanded cork agglomerate, the goal is to create, develop and perfect intrinsically sustainable products, that have reduced energy consumption and do not use additives. In other words, products that have a positive impact on the construction sector, the design of cities, the daily lives of cities, people's daily lives and the future of the planet.
Launched in 2000, MDFachada quickly became one of the company's main products, It resulted from a challenge posed by the two Pritzker Prize-winning Portuguese architects, Álvaro Siza Vieira and Eduardo Souto de Moura, who were looking for an innovative solution in which cork was clearly visible to cover the exterior of the Portuguese Pavilion at Expo 2000 in Hannover, Germany.
CorkSorb is another revolutionary application that is expanding the traditional possibilities of cork - protecting ecosystems, the environment and the planet. Developed to mitigate oil spills in the oceans, caused by large oil tankers, CorkSorb is currently applied in various industries subject to oil spills. Cork only absorbs the crude oil which can subsequently be reused in other activities. By virtue of its sustainability credentials, the CorkSork range has consistently received national and international awards, including the Green Project Award; the Innovation Award for Sustainability (EBAEpis); two awards from the European Business Awards for the Environment (the Product and Company categories for Biodiversity); the National Environmental Innovation Award; and the Cotec-Unicer Product Innovation award.
An excellent example is the use of by-products from the production process to make new solutions for natural turf pitches. The result is a product which replaces traditional turf, and potentially reduces the severity of athletes' injuries by up to 40%. This solution is based on the natural characteristics of cork such as lightness, shock absorption and resistance to friction. Real Madrid is just one of the footballing giants who have adopted this solution in their training grounds.
This type of application can also be used in buildings’ rooftop gardens or the vertical gardens of building facades. It also makes it possible to reduce water consumption in irrigation, conserve a certain level of humidity and maintain minimum thermal variation. This expanded cork agglomerate product was recognised as the BuildingGreen Top-10 Product for 2013, since it simultaneously provides acoustic insulation to aerial noises, percussion or impacts.