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Brick production on the rise

18 Apr 18 Latest numbers from the Office for National Statistics indicate that UK brick production continues to rise.

Most recent figures are for February 2018, which show a 6% rise on February 2017.  For the rolling quarter of December 2017 to February 2018, UK brick production was up 13% year on year. 

The Brick Development Association (BDA) says that the increase is due to both a rise in output from existing facilities and the introduction of additional brickworks – most notably the new Ibstock factory commissioned at the end of 2017. 

“While construction output as a whole may be slowing, we are still seeing housebuilding numbers rising,” said BDA marketing manager Tom Farmer.  “As housebuilding is a major market for our members it is perhaps not surprising to see manufacturing figures rising to meet demand.”

The BDA denies that there is a general shortage of bricks, despite regular reports to the contrary. Tom Farmer said: “There is a scarcity of reliable information about the general availability of building materials, hence we find many commentators relying on anecdotal information from a relatively small number of respondents. However, the Mace Business School monitors lead times for various product groups across the construction sector and its April 2018 analysis suggests an overall lead time for bricks of 11 weeks.  This compares well with drylining (12 weeks) hard landscaping (15 weeks), architectural metalwork (15 weeks) or reconstituted stone cladding (29 weeks).

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“We are confident that the manufacturing numbers meet current demand. In 2017 UK brick factories delivered over 2 billion bricks – the last time despatch volumes reached that figure was in 2007.”

Acknowledging that specific brick types might be in short supply, he added: “However, there is a huge number of different brick types available, and manufacturing schedules may make it difficult to get hold of individual brick types at short notice while issues within the supply chain…may cause problems for contractors who have not properly scheduled their work in advance.

“Our members continue to focus on increasing their capacity, so we anticipate that the volume of brick production in this country will continue to rise throughout 2018 and beyond, with imports also playing a role in meeting demand from a buoyant UK housebuilding industry.”

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