10 green years of breathing homes.

It has been just over ten years since Dutch business brain Evert de Graaf first stood on London’s Westminster Bridge for a photo shoot for The Times, to launch his innovative damp-proofing business in the UK.

It is a well known fact that amongst other heath problems, serious respiratory illnesses are known to stem from damp houses. Evert’s system can solve this problem ecologically with minimal fuss or disruption. It can be installed from outside the property without creating any mess and the system is compeletley chemical free.

The entrepreneur, who is originally from the town of Harderwijk in Holland, can now look out at that same spot from his luxury apartment overlooking the famous landmark, after turning his business into a phenomenal success. Evert launched Holland Damp Proofing, based at Aston-by-Budworth, near Knutsford, in 1999, and has since seen his system installed in thousands of homes across the UK.

The company is now one of the UK’s leading non-chemical damp proofing companies, with offices in Sussex, York and Bristol, and a turnover of around £2 million-per-year – proving that ‘green’ businesses can prosper. Evert said: “It has been an amazing journey since we installed our first system in the UK just over a decade ago.

“We have gone from ‘zero’ to a being a multi-million pound business in just a few years. I can look back at that first photo shoot on Westminster Bridge with fond memories. The company has come a long way in a short space of time, and it has been great to have been a part of that.”

The Holland Damp Proof System® first and became popular in The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Portugal and Spain before it was introduced to the UK market. The system works by drying out moisture in the walls using specially designed ‘bricks’ to encourage airflow through the base of the walls, allowing your home to ‘breathe’ and creating dryer, and therefore better insulating walls.

Evert added: “I think that the system has captured the public’s imagination. We offer a simple solution to a serious problem in a way that is both eco-friendly, and trouble free to our customers. “All conventional methods for damp-proofing involve hacking off plaster on the inside of the house, whereas our system can easily be installed from the outside meaning there is no need for re-plastering or redecorating.

“It has been a great ten years and we look forward to that continuing for another ten.” To find out more about Holland Damp Proofing call 0808 155 2571 or visit www.dampproofing.com