Tile company breaks ground in Ste. Anne

German tile giant Schluter Systems broke ground for its new Canadian head office to be located in Ste. Anne de Bellevue last Friday, executives from the company and its real estate agent laughing under a cloudy afternoon sky as they unveiled two golden shovels to mark the occasion. "The Canadian market is our third biggest market," explained Udo Schluter, who runs the company with his brother Marc. "We started to design our North American market from Canada," said Udo Schtuler.

The company was started in 1975 in Germany when Werner Schtuler, father of the two men who run tit now, created an L-shaped profile for tile edges.

The company offers over 40 product lines today. "We have got 5,000 new materials," said Udo Schtuler. One such product is a poly-ethylene membrane which may be inserted between a layer of ceramic tiles and a wooden canvas in order to avoid scratches and blemishes on the tiles.

Schtuler Systems established itself in Canada in 1986 with a small office Pointe Claire, before moving to St. Laurent. "We started to develop our North American market from Canada," Udo Schtuler said.

The company is setting up shop with a new head office that will be built across from the Ecomuseum on St. Marie Street. Construction is expected to be complete by 2009. The project is designed to meet LEED Gold (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. Emitted by the U.S. Green Building Council, a non-profit organization, the LEED standard is meant to award developers who design and build sustainable and environmentally friendly buildings. "This is the first time we've had a LEED project," said Ste. Anne de Bellevue mayor Bill Tierney, who was also present at the inaugural ceremony. He applauded the company's environmental consciousness and said the building should fit in well within Ste. Anne de Bellevue.