History

Traditionally leading in climate control

In 1945 Mark was founded by the brothers van der Mark in Veendam. At the time under the name Ingenieursbureau Gebroeders Van der Mark NV. The brothers started manufacturing and selling bending pumps and coal-fired air heaters. This was followed by oil-fired heaters and Column radiators. Air heaters only existed in standing versions. From the mid-50s, both brothers increasingly focused on heating large buildings. For this purpose they built suspended gas-fired air heaters. This is how the GS series came into being, a unique system that continues to lead the European heating market to this day.

This innovative strength still characterizes Mark. Mark Eire now supplies a leading range in the field of heating, cooling and ventilation. This means that our customers can go to one supplier for their complete climate management system. That makes us the market leader in climate technology.

Some highlights of the history of Mark Eire:

1945: Ingenieursbureau van der Mark was founded

On August 15 in 1945, Ingenieursbureau van der Mark was founded by the brothers Kees and Gjald van der Mark.

After the World War II there was a need to rebuild the Netherlands. Both before and during the war, most production halls were not heated. As soon as fuel, and coal and peat after that, became available, the need arose to heat production halls. That is why the Van der Mark brothers decided to develop an industrial air heater.

1946: Föhn

Mark’s first industrial air heaters were peat- and coal-fired. The disadvantage of this was that fuel had to be refilled regularly. The later developed oil burner offered a solution. In the 1960s there was also a gas-fired standing air heater: the Mark Föhn.

The Mark Föhn was very suitable for church heating and currently provides heating for more than 2000 churches in the Netherlands and Belgium combined.

1947: Hydraulic Pipe Benders

One of Mark’s first activities was the production and sale of hydraulic pipe bending machines. This odd one out came about when the Van der Mark brothers also wanted to generate income outside the heating season. Since the installation industry was busy installing missing pipes after the war, there was a demand for machines to bend pipes. This is how the Mark pipe bender was created.

The product has been part of our range for over 75 years.

1950: Column radiators

Later, the production of radiators was started. In the past, these were made of cast iron. These radiators were heavy and had a large water content. This made heating very slow. Van der Mark started producing sheet steel column radiators. The radiators had a lighter weight and a limited water content. This allowed rooms to heat up more quickly.

1965: Production of suspended air heaters

As standing air heaters took up usable floor space, the demand for suspended air heaters increased. To keep up with the competition, Van der Mark started producing a wall air heater. This is how the GS series came into being, a unique system that continues to lead the European heating market to this day.

Over the years, this unit has grown into what it is today: a high-efficiency condensing modulating gas-fired air heater.

The Mark GS+ HR air heater

1983: The Bruinsma family

Since 1983 Mark has been in the hands of the Bruinsma family. Director G.J.H.A. Bruinsma (1944 – 2008) has expanded the innovative company into an internationally operating organization. Despite this international character, the Bruinsma family still manages Mark as a family business, where the interests of our customers always come first.

1987: Mark Eire

To increase the production capacity of Mark Eire, a second factory was opened in Ireland in 1987: Mark Eire BV. At the time, this location was mainly responsible for the production of climate devices for Export and in Ireland itself. In addition, the TANNER MDA water-supplied air heaters and ECOFAN W recirculation fans are produced here.

The Mark Holding consists of six companies: six sales and service locations in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, Poland and Romania and two production locations: one in the Netherlands and one in Ireland.

1995: Infra Line

Over the years, the product range of Mark Eire has been further expanded. In the 1990s, a black tube radiant heater was developed with a maximum power of up to 100 kW. The Mark INFRA LINE offers the option of heating without displacing air. In addition, heat reaches only the location where it is required. The short warming-up period and the lower room temperature can yield good energy savings. Savings can be as high as 40%.

In addition to gas-fired radiant heaters, Mark Eire now also has water-supplied radiant panels and electric infrared heaters in its range.

Radiant heaters from Mark

2012: Mark AERFLOW heat recovery unit

Mark continues to develop, including in the field of sustainability and circularity. One example of this is our Mark AERFLOW heat recovery unit. The unit has an efficiency upto 90%. This means that 90% of the energy expelled is supplied to the fresh intake air. This high efficiency means that in many cases no after-heating is required. With the use of a heat pump, the appliance can also heat and cool without using natural gas.

The AERFLOW heat recovery unit is available in two versions for both indoor and outdoor installation. The AERFLOW CFX is equipped with a certified high-efficiency counterflow heat exchanger with bypass. The AERFLOW HWX is equipped with a corrosion-resistant rotary heat exchanger.

AERFLOW heat recovery unit

2018: Purchase of the Beneden Verlaat industrial estate

Mark Eire bought the adjacent buildings of the industrial estate on Beneden Verlaat in Veendam in 2018. The entire industrial area of 8 hectares is now owned by the manufacturer of climate equipment. Mark already owned part of the site, but ran out of space.

“We have outgrown ourselves”, says general manager Jan Koop de Boer. “Our production has grown strongly in recent years. We have invested heavily in the machinery and deployed additional staff to cope with this, but this obviously takes up space.”

Among other things, Mark wants to create more space for the ever-growing production of air handling units and heat recovery units.

2022: Expansion of machinery

In order to increase production capacity, two brand new state-of-the-art Trumpf machines are purchased. With the arrival of the TruBend Center 7030 automated bending machine and the TruLaser 1030 fiber laser cutter, the production capacity is doubled.

More about Mark's Production