Clay brick suppliers have announced plans to merge their East Coast brick operations this April, as previously reported by Quarry. Think Brick Australia represents Australia’s clay brick and paving manufacturers. Brickworks has a projected 53% market share in the clay brick market, a minimum 20% share in the eastern seaboard brick market and an 11% market share in Australia’s cement products manufacturing market. As a result of these acquisitions, Brickworks is Australia’s largest producer of clay bricks, the second-largest producer of masonry, the second-largest producer of roof tiles, and the fourth-largest producer of concrete products.
The company, Brickworks Limited, was established, focusing on the marketing and distribution of bricks and clay products. Brickworks was established on June 21, 1934, in New South Wales, as a way to shield Australia’s brick manufacturing industry from the effects of the Depression. During this time, Brickworks Limited took over Austral Bricks, becoming one of Australias largest brick manufacturers. From being an Australian building products manufacturer with operations across two states, Brickworks Building Products has grown to be one of Australia’s largest construction products companies, as well as a continental presence.
Brickworks is the largest manufacturer of bricks in Australia, with four divisions: Building Products Australia, Building Products North America, Industrial Assets, and Investments. Description Brickworks Limited produces, markets, and distributes building products to residential and commercial markets in Australia and North America. The Australian Building Products Division produces, sells, and distributes bricks, pavers, masonry blocks, roof tiles, precast concrete panels, retained wall systems, and construction systems to the building trades across Australia.
Building Products Australia is the major Australian manufacturer and distributor of building products, which before 2002 consisted of only brick production in NSW and Queensland. Building Products Australia includes Austral Bricks (the largest brick producer in the country), as well as other brands like Austral Masonry, Austral Precast, and Bristile Roof. Competition in Australia’s brick industry is heavily based on price, quality, performance, and service. Three brick manufacturers have benefitted greatly from industry consolidation, as have the Brickworks of Australia and Bristile Limited of the US.
The capital intensity of Australian brick production makes it hard for competitors to construct new brick plants, but also drains away capital that might have been used elsewhere. For its strong holdings of properties, and for much else, bricks have been a choice of choice for many homes throughout Australia for decades. Bricks have long been known to be one of the strongest, most widely used building materials in the building industry. Composed of locally mined clay, shale, and selected minerals, bricks are a high-performance, long-lasting construction material with a storied history.
Innovations in production techniques have transformed bricks into a highly adaptable, visually versatile material that is prized by builders, designers, and architects. Perhaps the pinnacle was reached during the first two decades of the twentieth century, with an amazing array of bricks, brick shapes, and tiles manufactured using dry pressing techniques.
Bricks produced using this method could also be made from the same type of plastic clay used in hand-made bricks. One machine used in Australia for the production of plastic bricks is the Mixer-Extruder, which produces bricks with a woven edge using semi-plastic clay, a firmer material than the type preferred by hand molders. This concealed the marks of the wire marks on the wet plastic bricks, gave them a very finished look with pronounced arrises, and also could be used to add the Frog, and the manufacturer’s branding. For the pressing method, steel molds were used in a compression process, producing bricks with smooth, crisp edges, as well as a slight dimple at the top.
There can be some variance in the brick sizes because of the effects of the different production runs; this is normal, and usually not noticeable. This is certainly subject to variations depending on the type, production method, and materials, and most bricks will vary incrementally in weight.
In case you are wondering, the standard U.S. brick dimensions are 8 inches long by 3 5/8 inches wide by 2 1/4 inches tall. The most commonly used type of brick is Common Burnt Clay brick, which makes an Australian Standard Brick sized 76mm tall x 230mm long x 110mm wide. Part of the reason why paving bricks are some of the smallest sizes is that they are designed to be easily held in one hand, making them easier to lay.
This makes them an economical alternative to standard-sized bricks, because they are quicker to lay, require less manufacturing time, and involve less labor. Unlike most bricks, Brick Pavers are made of solid material, designed for flat laying (they cannot be used in vertical buildings). Brickworks produces bricks (clay and concrete), precast concrete panels, brick products, roofing tiles, and specialist construction systems, as well as imports concrete for domestic uses.
Goodsell, Tye, and Hughes, who for years engaged in the work of brickmaking in Newtown, recently set up steam-powered brickworks. Located in Wakefield, a city in northern England, the firm has produced what was at that time revolutionary machinery for the automatic manufacture of clay bricks. It claimed to be the first producer of bricks in Australia that were plastic-type.
According to both companies, a planned joint venture (JV) – an entity 60% owned by CSR and 40% by Boral – emerged from a sustained structural downturn experienced by Australian brick manufacturers in the last three decades. In an Issues Statement released following a wide-ranging market investigation, the ACCC noted the plans would mean east Australian customers would be limited to just two main suppliers of bricks made from clay: the proposed JV and Austral Bricks.