On the 1st April 2016, the VKR Group celebrated its 75th Anniversary.  All of the VKR companies including Monodraught, share a common history and background.  We all develop, produce and sell high quality products and strive towards the foundation objectives of providing daylight, fresh air and a better living environment.

The VILLUM FOUNDATION is a major shareholder of the VKR Group and is guided by philanthropic principles supporting sustainable development.  Villum Kann-Rasmusen said 75 years ago when he started the foundation:

“You can only eat one steak per day. One's consumption is limited - you don't want more than that. So why not give the profits from the company's activities back to the society and try to do some good?”

As part of the anniversary celebrations, a special donation of over £16m has been granted to the VILLUM FOUNDATION to support the establishment of a new ambitious research centre for developing sustainable fuels and chemicals.  The centre will be part of the Technical University of Denmark and will involve top researchers from around the world.

Another key element of their anniversary celebrations is the collaboration between another of VKR’s companies Velux, with Little Sun to create a solar lamp.  This is enabling them to bring sustainable and affordable light to people that have no access to electricity and consequently are unable to read and learn after dark.  14,500 lamps (one for each employee in the VKR group) have been sent to Senegal, Zimbabwe and Zambia, with distribution partner NGO, Plan International.

Monodraught, who themselves have been at the forefront of designing and manufacturing low energy, low carbon and sustainable solutions for over 40 years would like to congratulate the VKR group on its achievements to date. Our employees have a number of internal activities in place to celebrate the anniversary.

We look forward to continuing to work together to bring healthy natural light and fresh air to our customers here in the UK and abroad.