NEWS EXTRA
FORTERRA OPENS DESFORD MEGA-PLANT
Building materials giant Forterra has opened the most efficient brick-plant in Europe. Anjali Sooknanan went to see it.
IN 2018, FORTERRA set out to build the largest and most efficient brick plant in Europe, and the business did exactly that. Following a £95m investment, the company unveiled the redeveloped Desford site to its customers on May 17, 2023. Located just two miles from the M1 in Coalville, Leicestershire, the grand opening of the new 82-hectare site was attended by customers such as Jewson, Huws Gray, Selco Builders Warehouse, Travis Perkins and MKM. “The reception we’ve had from our customers has been unbelievably positive and they seemed delighted to see what we’ve achieved. Our customers want a reliable supplier, good quality bricks, a manufacturer who they can trust and gives them good value for money. We’ve struggled to give suppliers what they needed in the past but now they can see that we’ve put the investment in. Just looking at the number of people who attended the opening day shows how interested and excited everyone is to see the facility come alive,” said Neil Ash, Forterra CEO.
The new site was designed to align with Forterra’s focus on strengthening the core of the business which included growing capacity, increasing cost-efficiency and being more sustainable. With the Government’s target to build 300,000 new homes annually, the new Desford site is
focused on meeting the increasing demands of housebuilders. While imports currently represent c.24% of the brick market, the sector still lacks the capacity required to meet demand with an estimated 197,000 new build homes completed in 2022, a figure which is strikingly lower than the Government’s initial target. New Desford factory, however, sits on 11.8m tonnes of clay reserves which will sustain the Group’s manufacturing operations for over 30 years. With a capacity to produce 180m bricks per year, 25,000 homes can be built from the site alone.
Although imports represent a high percentage of the brick market, this year imports have fallen significantly with 44% lower imports in Q1 2023 than Q1 2022. Forterra’s domestically produced bricks have provided a solution to this problem with all the business’ mainstream factories, including the Desford site, situated adjacent to a quarry. The Desford product range is well established and remains popular within the housebuilding sector due to its aesthetics and lightweight features and good water absorption. In addition, Desford clay naturally burns a yellow (buff) colour, with red products produced by mixing the local clay with a red-burning clay. The ability to produce both a buff and red range enables the site to offer a full range to Forterra’s customers.
“The new site is situated next
Above: MP Dr Luke Evans unveiling the plaque at Forterra’s new Desford factory
to a quarry which has produced bricks for decades. As a result, there have been hundreds of thousands of homes made from Desford bricks and when people extend and re-model their homes, they go to builders merchants looking for Desford bricks. The continuity of the range is really important to merchants,” said Stephen Harrison, former CEO at Forterra.
With just 90 employees at the site, the Desford site operates as a ‘lights off’ factory meaning there is minimal human intervention required during its standard operation. As a result, Forterra has significantly improved its efficiency with labour hours per thousand bricks reduced from three hours to just one hour at the new site. By
leveraging its use of technology, Forterra has also created a fully resilient facility which can operate at an optimal level and continue production even in the event of single-point system failures. The Group’s current
sustainability targets for 2030 include a 32% overall CO2 intensity reduction, zero waste to landfill, as well as 10% of the business’ electricity use generated from onsite renewable sources and a plastic packaging reduction of 50% by 2025. The Desford site has aided the Group’s commitment to sustainability with zero waste to landfill from the new site, 25% less carbon per brick than the old factory, 16% of the site’s electricity generated from solar panels and 58% less plastic packaging at the new factory.
“All merchants need suppliers as much as they need customers and we can give them three things; more products, greater reliability and from a sustainability perspective, a greener product. In terms of their scope for carbon emissions, we can also help further their sustainability agenda. We can deliver three tangible benefits to customers,” added Harrison. BMJ
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www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net June 2023
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