38 ASK THE MANUFACTURER
THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF SUCCESS
To celebrate the family fi rm’s 75th anniversary, Jack Wooler of
Housebuilder & Developer talks to Giles de Lotbiniere, Chairman of Lignacite, about the company’s foundation, and what makes it special.
I
n 1947, retired ex-serviceman and engineer, Sir Edmond de Lotbiniere, was approached by an inventor who had produced a new mix design for concrete blocks.
This was an attractive prospect – being just a few years after the War, there was a great shortage of building materials, and a clear desire to rebuild damaged sites across the country.
As such, together they began a journey that would continue through Sir Edmond’s family to this very day. Producing blocks from the inventor’s formula in Brandon, Suffolk, where Sir Edmond was living, the beginnings of Lignacite were born. Soon, Sir Edmond had recruited his old Sergeant Major from his regiment, who became Lignacite’s fi rst works manager, and the company bloomed rapidly.
Ever-expanding from these humble beginnings, Lignacite has since grown over its 75 years into the acclaimed manufacturer it is today – with its blocks having been used in prestigious projects across the country – all while retaining
its family ties, with Sir Edmond’s own Grandson, Giles, standing as the company’s chairman today.
“Surviving for 75 years is a noteworthy achievement and one we are incredibly proud of,” says Giles, commemorating the event.
“Lignacite has always stood for a high-quality product backed up by very good customer service, and as a company, we have always had a genuine desire to supply the best product that we can to our customers – and that’s a standard we continue to set for ourselves each and every day.”
THE MAGIC INGREDIENT
Going back to the company’s inception, at fi rst, the inventor’s original formula for Lignacite’s blocks included wood, sand, cement, and an expensive admixture. Telling the story from here, Giles says that, “when one day, the team ran out of this admixture, my Grandfather said ‘nevermind, let’s continue making the blocks anyway.’” “To their surprise,” he continues, “they
turned out equally well – in fact, even a little better – without the admixture.” As it turned out, the “magic ingredient” was wood, which he tells me makes the blocks light, warm, smooth, and robust in a fi re.
As such, the company actually takes its name from ‘Lignum,’ which is the Latin word for wood, and to this day, the company continues to make Lignacite blocks with the same mix design. To further explain the benefi ts here, “something quite fun,” says Giles, “is the sales technique used by my Grandfather.” “He would take a Lignacite block to a trade show with a wooden hand saw and a hammer and nail – he would then cut the block in two with the handsaw, and then knock a nail into one half, showing the versatility of the block, and just how easy it was to build with.”
“There are very few blocks that you can take a handsaw to and cut in half,” he continues, “if you are putting in electric cables or anything like that into a wall, being able to cut or chase into a block is a very valuable feature.”
Being part of what makes Lignacite unique, Giles believes that nobody else puts wood into blocks. This, he argues, is because it is a relatively expensive aggregate – the sugars in the wood decelerate the setting of the cement, meaning you have to put more cement into the blocks.
The expense is more than worth it though, he argues: “A normal, dense, aggregate concrete block will heat up to a certain degree and then shatter. Whereas, if you have wood in a block, it won’t burn because it’s locked up in the matrix of the block and the oxygen can’t get to it.
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