CLAY BRICK: THE BUILDING MATERIAL OF CHOICE

WHY CHOOSE CLAY BRICK?

HERITAGE, AESTHETICS, PRODUCTIVITY, SUSTAINABILITY

Walk down any street in the UK and you will see buildings made of clay brick. Its beauty, versatility, durability and longevity as a building material is evident all around us.

2,000 years on from the manufacture of the first clay brick in the UK, it remains the building material of choice for builders, bricklayers and architects alike. Whether that’s down to the vast array of colours, textures, shapes and sizes it’s available in; the fact that it is incredibly efficient to lay; or that a building made of clay brick will stand for at least 150 years… we explore these and other ideas on this page.

And what does the future hold for a product that has been made more or less the same way for hundreds if not thousands of years? Well, we explore that, too.

A HISTORY OF CLAY BRICK

Historian and writer Melanie Backe-Hansen guides us through a visual feast of some of the world’s most spectacular clay brick structures, exploring how this humble material has shaped generations of lives.

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THE TIMELESS BEAUTY OF CLAY BRICK

Contemporary, traditional, occasionally transformational, but always beautiful. In this blog, we explore how clay brick contributes to the extraordinary variety of Britain’s buildings, from new-build estates and one-off grand designs to our commercial and public spaces.

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THE FORTERRA BRICK CHALLENGE

TV personality and builder Craig Phillips presents The Forterra Brick Challenge: Clay vs. Concrete, talking to student bricklayers and professionals about the pros and cons of clay and concrete bricks as they take part in the event.

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BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

Can clay brick continue to be the building material of choice in a more sustainable future? We explore the environmental credentials of clay brick as the construction industry prepares for the government’s target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

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The Versatility of clay brick

TAKE A CLOSER LOOK, READ OUR E-BOOK

With a focus on four subject areas, our e-book explores the contribution of clay brick to our built environment, and examines why it remains the building material of choice for the UK’s construction industry:

  • Heritage – why clay brick is the trusted choice
  • Aesthetics – why clay brick is the architect’s choice
  • Productivity – why clay brick is the bricklayer’s choice
  • Sustainability – why clay brick is the sustainable choice
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THE FOUR FACES OF CLAY BRICK

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