A 21st-century British brickmaking revival?
13.01.2025
Blackrock bets big on British brickmaking
Expanding its stake from 5% to 12%, the US asset manager, Blackrock, is now the largest shareholder in the UK’s biggest brickmaker, Ibstock.
Are we experiencing a 21st-century British brickmaking revival?
As Europe’s largest market, UK brick demand is soaring.
The UK consumes around 2.5 billion bricks a year, but over 500 million are imported. 50 million of those are from outside the EU, up from just three million in 2015. According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Observatory of Economic Complexity, the UK is the number one country in the world for brick importation.
Are all bricks created equal?
As the environmental and socioeconomic scrutiny on our building materials intensifies, the revival must be defined by better ways of making, transporting and using bricks.
Is local production better?
We identify three reasons local brick production can lead to better environmental and social outcomes.
1) Lower carbon supply chains
Let’s start with a single brick — a standard clay weighs 2.5 to 3 kg, an average of 2.75 kg.
Now imagine shipping a million in a bulk carrier from Turkey — a major exporter — to the UK, a distance of 3,000 km. According to the UK government's Carbon Factors 2023, the average CO2e emissions for bulk carriers (freighting goods) is 0.00353 kg CO2e per tonne of material transported one kilometre.
Using these figures, we can estimate the emissions for importing one million bricks from Turkey to the UK:
- 2,750,000 kg × 3,000 km × 0.00353 kg CO₂e per tonne-km = 29,122.5 kg CO₂e
Importing creates additional emissions. By creating bricks locally, we can reduce distances and costs. There is also the added benefit of growing regional economies.
2) Lower human rights risks
Do you know who made your bricks?
Recent human rights abuses, including child labour, have been reported in brick kilns exporting to the UK.
Along with shortfalls in local production and cost pressures, there are several reasons these bricks are making it into UK buildings:
- Low supply chain visibility makes it difficult to understand the bricks’ origin and the labour conditions behind their production.
- Focus on compliance rather than doing the right thing can leave UK companies ticking boxes rather than thoroughly investigating supply chain risks.
- In some exporter nations, human rights laws exist, but enforcement is a challenge.
- Poverty and inequality in exporting countries can force families to involve children in labour to survive.
3) Preserving local heritage
Using local bricks can help us preserve local heritage and character. It’s also a way of resisting the global trend of architectural homogenisation.
From the red bricks of the Midlands to the yellow London Stock, bricks created with local clay and manufacturing techniques reflect their traditional surroundings.
They represent local vernacular, ensuring restorations and new developments materially blend in with their built surroundings.
ETHICS 2.0 — our call to action
We can start with bricks, but we can’t Engineer a Better Society alone.
While we still don’t have all the answers, we are optimistic that we can make a difference.
ETHICS 2.0 is a call to action for our community, a place for big questions about the issues driving all aspects of our lives today.
