{"id":252696,"date":"2022-04-19T14:59:44","date_gmt":"2022-04-19T12:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gillrath.de\/about-us\/geschichte\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T19:04:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T17:04:43","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/gillrath.de\/en\/about-us\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History & development"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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History & development<\/h1><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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1866<\/div>

First mention of brick production by the Gillrath family.<\/p>\n

Contract for the delivery of approx. 200,000 bricks for the construction of the church St. Valentin in Venrath is signed by Leopold Gillrath and the church council.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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1893<\/div>

\"1893\"<\/p>\n

Construction of the ring kiln brickyard on Wockerather Weg in Erkelenz<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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1904<\/div>

Purchase of the brickyard by Wilhelm Gillrath<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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1939<\/div>

Death of Wilhelm Gillrath, transfer of property to his wife Helene<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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1945<\/div>

\"1945\"<\/p>\n

Adolf Gillrath takes over the management of the company.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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1964<\/div>

\"1964\"<\/p>\n

Construction of an artificial drying<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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1970<\/div>

Conversion of the main fuel source from coal to gas, clinker bricks with coal scorch marks continued to be produced.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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1994<\/div>

\"1994\"<\/p>\n

Death of Adolf Gillrath; he is succeeded as owner and managing director by his son Heinrich Gillrath.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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2000<\/div>

\"2000\"<\/p>\n

First delivery to the Zollverein Coal Mine - UNESCO World Heritage Site<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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2008<\/div>

\"2008\"<\/p>\n

Major Project %22Art House%22 by Sergey Skuratov in Moscow<\/p>\n

To project (DE only)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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2009<\/div>

\"2009\"<\/p>\n

Major fire in the brickworks, whereby the entire roof of the hall above the ring kiln was destroyed. The ring kiln itself was not damaged.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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2010<\/div>

\"2010\"<\/p>\n

resumption of production<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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2013<\/div>

Bastian and Marcus Gillrath join the company. Bastian Gillrath as ceramic engineer takes over the management of the plant. Marcus Gillrath takes over the sales management and the marketing as a business administrator.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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2014<\/div>

\"2014\"<\/p>\n

Commissioning of a Petersen water-struck press. As a result, the product range was expanded by a variety of new clinker brick types.<\/p>\n

More information on the water-struck clinker
Water-struck brick types (DE only)<\/a>
Projects with water-struck clinker bricks (DE only)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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2014<\/div>

First 'Energy Consulting for Medium-Sized Companies' and thus the start of our intensified efforts on the way to sustainable clinker production.<\/p>\n

More about sustainability at the clinker plant<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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2015<\/div>

First major project in London with the %22Bartlett School of Architecture%22 at UCL. This is associated with further expansion into new export markets.<\/p>\n

to project (DE only)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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2016<\/div>

\"2016\"<\/p>\n

To celebrate the 150th anniversary, a large festive event with numerous invited guests takes place.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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2018<\/div>

Installation of a microturbine to produce heat and electricity for the drying plant.<\/p>\n

More information on our sustainability efforts<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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2019<\/div>

\"2019\"<\/p>\n

Move into the new office building<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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2019<\/div>

Start of the largest project to date: the W&W Campus for W\u00fcstenrot & W\u00fcrttembergische Versicherungs AG in Kornwestheim<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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2020<\/div>

Commissioning of our own steaming kiln for the finishing of our clinker assortment.<\/p>\n

Steamed clinker (DE only)<\/a>
Projects with steamed clinker (DE only)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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2021<\/div>

Project in Juist, for which our clinkers had to be transported to the construction site by horse-drawn carriage.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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2022<\/div>

Second energy consulting for medium-sized businesses.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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2022<\/div>

Installation of electric vehicle charging stations on the factory premises.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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2022<\/div>

First project in Australia.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"green<\/span><\/div>\n

Gillrath Traditional Manufacture<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2379,"parent":252682,"menu_order":10,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-252696","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHistory & development – Gillrath Klinker & Klinkerriemchen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"History & development of the Gillrath clinker factory in Erkelenz - An overview of 150 years of brickmaking tradition.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gillrath.de\/en\/about-us\/history\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"History & development – Gillrath Klinker & Klinkerriemchen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"History & development of the Gillrath clinker factory in Erkelenz - 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