Heading for Australia
Discover the fourth stop on our 360th anniversary world tour!
To celebrate our 360th anniversary, our unique world tour makes a stopover in Australia.
In this country marked by intense drought, with expanding cities and a fragile natural environment, building sustainably in Australia is no longer an option, but a necessity.
How can innovation within manufacturing lead to a more sustainable building industry?
Alongside our journalist Charlotte Kan, meet our local teams, who work every day to transform the construction sector and enable us to make the world a better home.
HOW CAN INNOVATION WITHIN MANUFACTURING LEAD TO A MORE SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRY
Digitalization, robotization, renewable energies... Saint-Gobain is rethinking its entire production chain, thoroughly transforming to design more sustainable materials and solutions.
Take a look at how our teams innovate and support the evolution of the construction sector in the region.
TO GO FURTHER
4 questions to… Paul Dalton, CEO, CSR Australia and New Zealand – Saint-Gobain.
The Red Book: discover the essential catalogue of products and solutions for more compliant construction in Australia.
THROUGH THE LENS OF CHARLOTTE KAN
Charlotte retraces her steps and shares her impressions.
Australia: Innovation with Purpose
As part of Saint-Gobain’s 360th anniversary, traveling across continents to explore how to truly Make the World a Better Home is an insightful and joyful adventure where we meet local Saint-Gobain teams, and get a better understanding of their markets and people they serve.
Our latest stop: Australia. And what a stop it was. From Sydney’s iconic harbour to Melbourne’s vibrant and very liveable city life, we immersed ourselves in one of the world’s most climate-diverse countries to understand how sustainable construction can—and must—adapt.
What quickly became clear is that sustainability requires both a holistic vision and a distinctly local approach, as well as innovative products, processes and practices. We spoke with inspiring professionals with a conscious approach, like interior designer Natasha Allan from Thomas Archer, who reminded us that material choices can—and should—be both beautiful and responsible. In a land prone to bushfires and wild temperature swings, her preference for lightweight, non-combustible, and pre-cut materials like Hebel is both design-led and deeply pragmatic.
Our Australian journey is also a proof that digital transformation can deliver environmental as well as operational gains - crucial as construction not only contributes to 40% of the world's CO2 emissions but also uses half of the world's use of natural resources and produces a third of its waste (World Green Building Council).
And about resources, I was impressed by the CSR plant on Wetherill Park, where solar panels gleamed on the factory roof, and a new calcining plant was cutting thermal energy use by 21%. More than just a facility upgrade, this is a blueprint for greener industry across Australia.
This trip was a reminder that to build sustainably, innovation must flow through every link of the chain—from materials to design, planning to production. Saint-Gobain showed us that the future of construction in Australia isn’t just greener—it’s smarter, more connected, and, most of all, already underway!
SYDNEY AS YOU’VE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE!
Australia's leading destination, Sydney is well known for its legendary harbor, with its many iconic architectural achievements!
The Group's solutions can be found in many of the harbour's most emblematic buildings, such as the Circular Quay Tower, Sydney's second-tallest skyscraper.
Completed in 2022, this 55-storey commercial building features 75,000 m² of Gyprock® plasterboard, Martini® high-performance acoustic solutions and Cemintel® fiber cement. These solutions deliver both comfort and performance.
From the top of the tower, that reaches a height of 263 meters, you can see over 50km across the Pacific Ocean and Greater Sydney – approximately 4 million Sydneysiders in view from a tower equipped with Saint-Gobain solutions!
SAINT-GOBAIN IN AUSTRALIA IN 3 FACTS
1990
Date the Group first set up operations in the country.
2,730
Current number of employees.
Integrated solutions
CSR (building products for construction of homes and commercial buildings), Flexovit & Norton (high-performance abrasive solutions for surfaces)...