The latest figures
produced by the Office for National Statistics reveal that brick production
figures continue to rise.
The most recent
figures are for February, which show a 6% rise on February 2017.
The rolling quarterly
figures are even more impressive: December 2017– February 2018 shows a 13%
increase on the same period the previous year.
The Brick Development
Association points to a continuing rise in output from existing facilities and
the introduction of additional brickworks – most notably the new Ibstock
factory commissioned at the end of 2017 – and a commitment from members for
continuing investment in new and improved facilities.
“While construction
output as a whole may be slowing we are still seeing housebuilding numbers
rising” observes BDA’s Tom Farmer. “As housebuilding is a major market
for our members it is perhaps not surprising to see manufacturing figures
rising to meet demand.”
Asked about continuing
rumours of brick shortages, Tom continued: “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).
“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.
“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 (I would point to an understandable reluctance
for distributors to hold significant stocks) 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.”
