HEAVYSIDE: LONDON RECLAIMED BRICK F
or a city with such a rich and protected history, London’s buildings require specific materials for renovations, in order to match the existing brickwork in both quality and
condition.
London Reclaimed Brick Merchants, a family run business, has specialised in reclaimed bricks for over 40 years, working with demolition companies to reclaim these materials. However, reclaimed materials can be a difficult product to rely on. As managing director, Sophie Wilbraham explains; “We’re focused on reclaimed bricks and masonry, but we do stock some new products as well. Most of the yard is like a typical builder’s merchant, catering for the trade and the public.”
Reclamation
The merchant specialises in reclaimed brickwork and masonry services, sourcing the bricks and offering a variety of services for a wide range of projects.
Wilbraham says: “For the reclaimed brick side, we have a sister company that we work with. When buildings get demolished, they’ll get in touch with us. We do all the cleaning. The bricks are all hand cleaned and all the residue gets chipped off them; the mortar, cement, back into a nice, clean, square condition. There are no water or liquids involved. They then get palletised on site, and brought to our warehouse and yard area here to be sent out to the customers.” She estimates that 60 to 70% of LRBM customers are trade, although there are a number of private customers as well, doing extensions residential or refurbishments, where they need to match existing bricks.
“We offer a brick matching service where we either do it by photos or on-site to make sure that the colour and everything ties up,” she says. “We don’t do a minimum order, so sometimes we have orders of half a dozen bricks and then other times we’ve received orders for 10,000 bricks.” LRBM relaunched its in-house brick cutting service for 2026 with an improved unit, cutting reclaimed heritage or new bricks bespoke for renovations, detailed brickwork around windows on traditional builds or conservation projects, and feature walls.
It offers a wide range of custom cuts including; Brick Slips (Brick Tiles), Bats (Cut along the width to create a smaller brick), Squints (60/45/30 Degree Angles), Cants: (Bricks cut at an angle), Dog Legs (designed to create corners or curved features in brickwork.), and Plinths (used to create a single or double course splay detail, allowing a change in depth to brickwork normally at the base of buildings.)
The relaunches service has also improved the company’s yield, as Wilbraham explains: “We have updated machinery, which allows us to do bigger yields, bigger quantities of cutting for
30
THEY DON’T MAKE ‘EM LIKE THEY USED TO
London Reclaimed Brick Merchants talks to Oliver Stanley about the challenges of sourcing for the reclaimed brick market.
bigger jobs, and we can do more intimate profiles where before we were really just doing slips and some quite straightforward cuts. This allows us to do more intricate work.”
London bricks
London Reclaimed Brick Merchants tailor to a local market, as Wilbraham comments: “Our bricks are quite London and the Home Counties specific. When you get up to the Midlands or Northern England, the bricks tend to be quite different in size, colour and styles, which aren’t very popular where we’re based. We cater more to London homes and buildings. The London Stock is quite iconic.”
However, as the pool of reclaimed materials is not renewable, it can be a struggle to meet increasing demand.
Wilbraham continues: “I think there is an awkward dichotomy, as the government, for environmental purposes, and probably budget, has been reducing demolitions for a couple of years now, saving facades and buildings and refurbishing them, which is obviously best for the environment. However, reclaimed bricks are getting more popular. So those two elements put us in an awkward place.
“People want to be ethical and environmentally friendly, but sourcing recycled materials is getting very difficult and the quantities are dramatically going down, and so reclaimed brick prices are going up due to availability being so low. “As a more available alternative, we have started offering processed newer bricks, made with the same methods, weathered, and tinted. Sometimes we even build low walls out of
them and remove them so that they look really aesthetically similar to the truly reclaimed ones. These new ones are sold as a cheaper alternative, but we’re trying to make them look as good as possible as well for our market.” In order to continue to supply restoration projects into the future, creating supply to meet demand is a key issue, however, as Wilbraham highlights, this solution comes with its own issues. “When we are sourcing bricks for conservation areas, the brick, once it’s been matched, has to be approved by the local council to be used in the build or extension, and the council is often reluctant to approve new bricks. It must be a reclaim, and a very good match. But if that product is not available, it’s a piece of string as to when it is going to be become available again. It’s not being made, so you have to wait for a building to be demolished and hope. “I think there’s going to have to be more tolerance on the new versions where they fit the same specifications. There’s a real hesitancy with the councils and I think that their minds need to be opened to new alternatives, the ones we’re processing to make them look reclaimed for example.
“I think that the future of the reclaimed bricks market is to move into new. Realistically, the supply will eventually dry out completely. To keep
any business going you need turnover, and by learning to match the aesthetic of the existing brick, recreating the methods used to produce these older materials, and keeping those new bricks in line with ethical and environmental codes as well, you can continue to supply renovation projects with new supply. That’s something that needs more focus.
“The materials we use to tint and age the bricks are natural, like charcoal, natural material was used in that processing. We don’t use big machinery or acids. These are still hand-made bricks with charcoal weathering. So it’s still environmentally friendly.” BMJ
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net April 2026
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