Our history

In 1946, Friedrich Schiedel founded the Erbacher Bauwaren company in Erbach near Ulm. As early as 1947, he specialized his concrete plant in Erbach into a chimney factory, whose manufacturing range was reduced exclusively to the production of double-walled chimneys in 1951. From then on, the company produced under the name "Schiedel" with 17 employees on its own land. In 1952 the production of chimneys was started in Munich. In the years from 1961 to 1966, Senator e. h. Friedrich Schiedel established several production and sales facilities in the metropolitan areas of Germany and in 1966 also in Nußbach in Austria. In 1971, a central administration building was erected in Munich. In the years from 1971 to 1990, he continued to expand the business and was the sole shareholder of Friedrich Schiedel Holding GmbH in Austria. In 1990 he transferred the Schiedel group of companies in Germany and those in Austria to Braas GmbH in 1991. Today Schiedel is represented in over 25 countries and operates 21 ceramic and steel plants. Based on the ingenious idea of the founder Friedrich Schiedel in 1946 - to produce chimneys not only from bricks but from lightweight concrete blocks - Schiedel created many other industry-revolutionary developments. Our entrepreneurial milestones include the circular chimney in 1966, the insulating chimney in 1985, the universal ABSOLUT chimney in 1999, the ABSOLUT Thermo air draft for room-air-independent operation of individual fireplaces, and the combination of our innovative shaft-integrated and room-air-independent stove insert KINGFIRE.

In the UK we have been manufacturing and exporting the Rite Vent brand of Steel products from our Washington plant for more than 50 years and have built a reputation for high quality, installer friendly products, which is second to none.
 
Today Schiedel products are exported across the globe.
 
The range of Schiedel Chimney products such as ICID, ICS, Prima Plus, Prima Smooth, TecnoFlex Plus were all conceived, developed and designed in Washington and are still made in Washington as they always have been. We also distribute the Isokern Pumice range from our office on the South Coast at Poole and the Ceramic range from Coalisland, Northern Ireland as well as Poole.
 
We are proud that we have a comprehensive range of products which cover any project, be it large or small, plus we are happy to back this with excellent Customer Support, with Sales Teams in Washington, Poole and Coalisland.

What our company founder and namesake Friedrich Schiedel built up in 1946 with two borrowed shovels and a borrowed wheelbarrow has been crowned with success. Far-sighted in his thinking, clear in his conception, energetic in his actions, this is how Friedrich Schiedel's concept can be described and history shows that his vision worked out. His first factory for prefabricated chimneys was built in Erbach near Ulm. In 1967, Friedrich Schiedel then opened the "Schiedel Kaminwerke" in Austria. His entrepreneurial spirit, know-how, perseverance and a competent team of employees paved the way for success. The company grew, expanded its locations, its sales structures and its business areas. As a result, Schiedel is now the undisputed number 1 in Europe for highly energy-efficient chimney systems, innovative stove solutions and integrated ventilation solutions.