1998

Kiwa goes global

Kiwa was growing fast in the Netherlands and broadening its services. But there were also increasing opportunities to cover more ground geographically. In 1998, engineer Harald Guttzeit set up Kiwa Germany in Cologne, starting five years of expansion for the company: Kiwa opened a branch in Belgium the same year, Italy the following year, then Scandinavia, Spain, Turkey, the UK and China.

Kiwa’s move into Germany

Engineer Harald Guttzeit set up Kiwa Germany in Cologne in 1998, and his successor Michael Witthöft moved operations to Hamburg. Kiwa Germany has since developed into an organization with almost 200 employees. This growth has been through the expansion of certification activities and the takeover of several companies in a variety of sectors:

• Environmental – Ecoconsult GmbH, Nordum
• Automotive – International Zertifizierung GmbH, Global Cert GmbH
• Construction – Zemlabor, Lenz Gruppe, Schaaf GmbH, Bautest GmbH
• Materials – Magdeburgse Glaslabor, The Polymer Institute (Forchungsinstitut für polymere Baustoffe Dr. R. Stenner GmbH), tBU, MPA Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH and MBF GmbH
• Pipes – Code Consulting

tBU office

In 2011, there were some organizational changes. Kiwa MPA Bautest GmbH was formed by merging Kiwa Bautest GmbH, Kiwa Bautest Dresden GmbH, Kiwa Control (construction testing activities in Brandenburg, Michendorf and Haberstadt) and Kiwa Zemlabor (construction testing activities in Beckum). Kiwa Zert GmbH merged with Kiwa Zemlabor GmbH to become Kiwa Product Cert GmbH.

European expansion

Director Janneck Peersman took over management of Kiwa Belgium in August 2007. He worked with staff to start a project called ‘Kiwa Belgium goes Olympic’. This resulted in the team achieving a number of goals to streamline the organisation and secure processes to reposition Kiwa Belgium in the certification market.

Director Janneck Peersman (L) and his colleagues

The Kiwa organization in the UK consists of four companies: Kiwa CMT, Kiwa Gastec at CRE, Kiwa Blackwood and Kiwa Watertec (formerly Kiwa Quality Services).

• Gastec at CRE, or GAC (2010) – after being partly owned by Kiwa for several years, GAC became fully part of the Kiwa family. GAC is one of Europe’s leading centres of expertise on solid fuels and solid fuel appliances, with extensive test facilities in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
• Blackwood Compliance Laboratories (2011) – UKAS accredited labs that specialize in electromagnetic compatibility, electrical safety and electromagnetic field testing.
• CMT, testing Ltd (2012) – a UKAS-accredited specialist in materials research and testing for construction, civil engineering, environmental and related industries, with its own laboratory facilities

Branching out internationally

Kiwa China Corporation Ltd. opened in the Chinese city of Guangzhou in 2007 to serve manufacturers who opted to relocate production and serve the Western market from China. In January 2010, Scott Ballantyne was appointed Country Manager. Later that year, Kiwa Gastec Guangzhou moved to a bigger site at Soft-Park in Science City, to accommodate the company’s growth.