Roca Corporación Empresarial, S.A. began business in 1917 as Compañía Roca Radiadores S.A. This company was dedicated exclusively to the manufacture of cast-iron radiators for home heating at its factory in Gavà (Barcelona), but the rapid penetration of new products into the market and a solid determination to expand led the areas of business to be enlarged with the aim of diversifying activities. As a result, in 1925 the first cast-iron boilers were made, and in 1929 the company began to make cast-iron bathtubs. In 1936 Roca entered the sanitary tile sector and in 1954 it began to produce faucets and fittings. A second porcelain tile factory was opened in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) in 1962.

It was in 1963, with the start-up of an air-conditioner factory in Sabadell (Barcelona), when Roca became one of the first Spanish companies to enter the new climatisation market. Later on, in 1968, a third porcelain tile factory was opened, in Alcalá de Guadaira (Seville), and in 1974 the steel bathtub factory was inaugurated.

The company entered the ceramic tiles sector in the 1980s. The acquisition of Cerámicas del Foix, which became a subsidiary, was the start of the current Tiles area of business. In 1989 Roca purchased a sanitaryware factory in Portugal.

During the 1980s and 90s, in keeping with the company’s determined expansion drive, commercial subsidiaries were opened, agreements were consolidated with leading companies in other markets, and corporate acquisitions and operations were carried out.

On 24 January 2002, Compañía Roca Radiadores S.A. began a process of corporate restructuring of the Group to organise the various areas of business into independent companies. To carry out this project, the new parent company Roca Corporación Empresarial S.A. was set up. The restructuring process culminated in 2005 with the sale of the heating and air-conditioning businesses to concentrate the corporation’s efforts on the bathroom business, which reached the world leadership position in the early months of 2006.