UK brick industry (Part two)
UK brick industry
Status of the factories
The economy has hit the building trade hard in the last 5 years which has, of course, resulted in a lower
demand for bricks. This lowered demand can be seen in the fact that over 25% (26 of 102) of the factories
are now closed or dormant with only 76 continuing to operate.
What do they make
There are 5 major processes for brick manufacturing in the UK; Wirecut, Machine Made, Pressed, Hand Made and
Slop Mould. With the increase in technology and manufacturing processes it is not surprising that only 8
factories still made bricks by hand, whereas the most popular method, wirecut, has 45 factories using the
process, which is nearly half of all the factories.
Where are they based
The centre of England has always been the hub of UK brick manufacturing and as seen on the map created Yorkshire
and the Midlands are the two areas with the majority of factories (with Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and
Derbyshire also being major areas), although there are large pockets in the South West and North West of England
as well as central Scotland.