In the realm of construction materials, clay brick emerges as a timeless icon that seamlessly marries tradition and sustainability. Keith Aldis, CEO of the Brick Development Association (BDA) provides in-depth insight into clay brick’s exceptional versatility, showcasing its ability to adapt to architecture’s ever-evolving requirements whilst maintaining a steadfast commitment to environmental responsibility.
Clay brick is a durable and sustainable building material that has proven its performance for thousands of years. Unlike other forms of construction such as timber which commonly lasts less that 60 years, clay brick has a minimum active lifespan of 150 years. However, clay brick can last much longer; there are brick structures dating back several thousand years BC that remain in continuous use today. The Pantheon in Rome, built with brick in 120 AD, still stands perfectly intact after 2,000 years. In the UK, present day Cambridge is an excellent example of a city built on clay brick with many brick-built university buildings dating back to the 1400s. The prevalence of Georgian-era brick buildings that also continue to be used and appreciated across the UK further demonstrates the exceptional durability of clay brick. Clearly under the right circumstances, the evidence of clay brick’s longevity is all around us.
Unmatched adaptability
Whether traditional or rural, historic or urban settings, clay brick will complement and seamlessly blend with a range of architectural styles. While other building materials and design trends may fade in and out of popularity, clay brick remains timelessly beautiful and durable.
Clay brick’s classic beauty is matched by its incredible versatility, making it the ideal building material for homes across styles and eras. Whether gracing historic estates or sleek urban lofts, traditional cottages and farmhouses, or countless contemporary homes and buildings, clay brick complements and enhances any architectural vision. It can be deconstructed and rebuilt to create exceptional brickwork features and detailing. With its wide selection of colours, textures, shapes and sizes, clay brick allows for immense creativity and flexibility in design. It can be easily adapted for extensions, renovations or changes in use. Clay brick also pairs beautifully with many other building materials and systems.
Expanding design possibilities, new clay brick products offer even greater versatility. These include brick slips and slip systems, thin bricks and prefabricated elements like chimneys, lintels, and panels. Ongoing innovations in the industry ensure that clay brick continues to offer new possibilities for creative design and durable construction.
Brick resilience
Not only does clay brick allow for creative design flexibility, it also offers exceptional durability. This robust material withstands the elements and ages gracefully over time, with minimal upkeep required. Clay brick boasts remarkable resilience against decomposition and weathering, making it a valuable material for long-lasting construction in most environments. It also remains stable despite extremes of weather, like flooding, as well as generations of wear and tear. Unlike render, timber, and many other building materials that require regular maintenance, clay brick’s durability minimises environmental impact by avoiding the need for frequent repairs and replacements. Furthermore, clay brick facades are non-flammable (will not ignite) and non-combustible (will not contribute to the spread of fire). This means they often survive fires structurally intact, enabling renovation and reuse.
Circularity
The durability and resilience of clay brick over time illustrates the importance of taking a cradle-to-cradle approach when evaluating sustainability. Rather than just using low-carbon materials, a whole life approach considers environmental impact across a product’s entire lifecycle from its production to use, maintenance, and reuse or recycling.
Clay brick exemplifies this whole-life approach. With exceptional durability and longevity, clay brick buildings prolong usable lifespan, lowering the carbon footprint per year of use. Clay brick can also be reused or crushed at end of life and the materials reused to make new products, avoiding waste. By refurbishing clay brick buildings rather than demolishing them, carbon emissions are further reduced while preserving the architectural heritage of the local area.
However, current methods for assessing sustainability like Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) quote a service life from the manufacturer. The EPD data can then be integrated into a building level assessment which typically use a limited 60-year study period. This short timeframe fails to account for the exceptional longevity of durable materials like clay brick. As we have stated, the oldest fired bricks are over 6000 years old, demonstrating how clay bricks’ lifespan can exceed building level assessment expectations by over 100-fold.
This longevity drastically reduces clay brick’s carbon footprint per year of use. While EPDs ignore lifespan beyond 60 years, clay bricks endure for centuries. And unlike other materials, clay bricks can be reclaimed and reused repeatedly, further supporting their carbon impact across multiple lifetimes and generations.
By underestimating the extended lifespans of durable products like clay brick, EPDs and the specifiers who reference them lack crucial data on true carbon footprints. Life cycle assessments based on clay brick’s 150+ year service life would reveal its unparalleled sustainability compared to the study period of 60 years. Only an analysis accounting for reusability and recyclability will capture the minimal carbon impact of clay brick across its full lifecycle.
A local product
Furthermore, it’s important to highlight that clay brick has tended to serve more local markets and has been that way for thousands of years. With 85% of the bricks used in the UK manufactured here, it’s easy to see why we are a nation built from locally produced clay brick.
Clay brick from UK brick manufacturers travels on average no more than 68 miles from factory to site. Compared to other building materials, which might require transportation across large distances, clay brick’s short distance from factory to construction site minimises economic and environmental costs.
As building design preferences come and go, simple and elegant clay brick endures as a sustainable, adaptable building material. With creativity and skill, architects continue to find new ways to incorporate clay brick into traditional, modern, and postmodern architectural styles. Strong, weather and fire-resistant, locally-sourced, non-polluting, clay brick enables sustainable design and is an essential building material for today’s environmental needs.