New boss of the Unilin Panels division of the Unilin group, Bert Vandenkendelaere is widening the gap opened by his predecessor, Véronique Hoflack, promoted to head of the floors division.
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At the house of Unilin, the circular economy is congenital. Not only because BENELUX is at the forefront on these issues, but because Unilin was born from the idea of using residues from flax production. Later there was the pioneering move towards the recycled wood. Now, the history of the brand is rewritten in this circular and sustainable aspect, but we still have to make allowances. As such or as part of Mohawk group, leader world of flooringUnilin is better known for its Quick-Step innovations in laminate flooring than for a biosourced approach. The integration of Evertree’s vegetable binder into MDF panels Panneaux de Corrèze was initiated before the takeover of the entity by Unilin Panels. But there must have been an additional impulse. Now Véronique Hoflack is testing the recycling of MDF at home in a pressure cooker, while Panneaux de Corrèze’s Next panels are moving to generation 3 and the group is developing a 100% biosourced glue for its HPL panels (Verneo).
MDF recycling material. It can now integrate up to 25% of the manufacturing process of new MDF. © Unilin Panels
Unilin Panels are carbon-free
While only France and Luxembourg have so far developed a new construction regulations limiting GHG emissionsUnilin is one of those groups which calculates their carbon footprint and which does not go back to 1990 like the States, but to 2020: with substantial results, thanks to the use of biomass, but also wind turbines, etc. A good action, certainly, but which today becomes a good operation because it is about limit exposure to fossil fuels as much as possible.
MDF recycling facility in Bazeilles, 20 million euros invested. © Unilin Panels
Small ideas and big volumes
Unilin Panels is an increasingly European division, starting from Flanders, then extended to Germany with a unit specializing in mezzanines, then France with both Panel sites of Corrèze and Bazeilles.
Bazeilles invests 20 million euros and the objective becomes to recycle 70,000 tonnes of MDF per year, or 25% of a production of 350,000 m3. The greenhouse gas savings are significant and this is good, because the virtuous image of wood as a reusable carbon store is extending to processed products and process panels.
Panels for boxes with Unilin vapor barrier wall on the construction site of the locker room and Club House of Coincy in Aisne. © Jonas Tophoven
Master Oak and quilted oak
This means that the new boss of Unilin Panels is not going to spend his life doing reportingbut, as a good marketing and sales manager that he had already been for many years for the same brand, transform the test and position Unilin as leader European virtuous process panels. And for that, two anecdotes: during the last Interzum, Unilin takes the prize with its Master Oak, an imitation of oak which will allow a return of the solid oak furniture appearance approximately 15 years after this market completely collapsed in France. Bert Vendenkendelaere takes control of Unilin Panels at the moment when Master Oak fully deploys, with a wide range of shades, its tactile qualities and the visual appearance of wood veneer with the advantages of a PPSM product (resistance against scratches, UV resistance and easily cleanable, etc.).
We can, as in the case of laminate floors that perfectly imitate wood, cry out fake. But a few aisles further, on the French Timber collective stand of French wood exporters, discussion on the consequences of attacks on oak and the pitted appearance which is spreading. Difficult to tackle with dive. On the other hand, the northern developer Aventim used oak trees from the Chantilly forest as visible posts for its new work spaces.
Master Oak, star of the last Interzum show in Cologne. © Unilin Panels
Unilin in Aisne
Another anecdote with oak: the cloakroom and clubhouse of Coincy in Aisne by the Vivarchi agency, which presented at the Forum Bois Construction in February 2026 a ½ model of a solid municipal oak farm, on which gray boxes rest. Straw insulation, the ultimate in local valorization with local transformation and practical consequences, since the presentation of the project at the Forum made them meet a researcher from the FCBA who worked on the certification of aspen as a building species, and a working group was set up on the subject at the Forêt vivant sawmill.
Separation of MDF wood fibers in Bazeilles, a world first. © Unilin Panels
The frugal particle board
But the anecdote in question is that on the construction site we find Unilin green particle boardswhich act as a vapor barrier and avoid the use of membranes on the interior side of the straw insulation. Normally, this color is then masked by a half-style technical framework with plasterboard to also hide the electrical wires.
In Coincy, to save money, the panels will remain as is, just repainted. Vivarchi tested the effect. It’s more frugal, more economical, but we avoid an extra layer and therefore, it’s also more virtuous. In any case, architectural experimentation with local wood does not exclude wise use of clever industrial panels.
Innovation, sustainability and power
Unilin Panelsit is, according to Bert Vandenkendelaere, a DNA of innovation, more and more clearly a logic of decarbonization associated with circularity, and finally it is the power of a leader European which will reinforce the virtuous dimension of the European wood industry, and above all make investments and innovations with a high impact in terms of footprint.
Jonas Tophoven / © Unilin Panels
