Manufacturer completes £8m factory investment

Ibstock Brick, part of Ibstock plc and the biggest manufacturer of bricks sold in the UK, has invested £7.6m in its factory at Lodge Lane in Cannock, in order to boost its annual production of bricks to eight million.

The Cannock facility is the home of Staffordshire Slate Blue Brick and the investment project, which includes a new kiln, started in January 2017 and was completed recently. The manufacture of Blue Brick, which is a famously strong type of construction brick, was widespread across the whole Black Country in the 19th and 20th centuries. Its importance to economic activity in the area was confirmed in World War II when brickworks were designated a ‘reserved occupation’.

The factory now manufactures four types of blue brick, and it has a specials department which produces a wide variety of bricks including sills, plinths, bullnose and chamfered.

The manager of the Cannock factory, Richard Hall, believes that this significant investment demonstrates a strong commitment to blue brick manufacture. He said: “The new kiln gives us increased capacity and the ability to produce up to 28m bricks every year. It is the boost that the site needed and gives us a really good foundation to build on for the future.”

He added: “There is a lot of tradition in blue brick manufacturing and we are carrying this on and since we have increased production we have seen steadily growing demand for these products.”