Demand for bricks means dozens of new jobs as moth-balled plant is revived

The recovering in the housing market has come up against a shortage of housebricks after the brickmaking industry hit hard times during the recession.

A string of plants across the West Midlands have been closed over recent years, while the Hartlebury Works was mothballed by its Austrian owners Wienerberger.

The company also owns the nearby Waresley brickworks, on the Hartlebury Trading Estate, which employs around 100 people and is the company's biggest factory site in the UK.

But it can't keep up with the surge in demand from housebuilders, so Wienerberger is putting the Hartlebury Works back into operation, creating 36 new jobs.

It is part of a UK-wide plan that will create 140 jobs in all, upgrading technology, adding new shifts, re-opening another site in Ewhurst in Surrey, with the aim of hiking UK production by 200 million bricks a year.

The construction industry has now shown nine months of consecutive growth. Yesterday rival brickmaker Michelmersh revealed its prices had risen almost 13 per cent over the last year as brick stocks hit their lowest level in living memory and demand outstripped supply.

Harald Schwarzmayr, managing director of Wienerberger UK, said: "We have seen an increase in demand since 2013, particularly after the boost to the market provided by the Help to Buy scheme, and the Bank of England's funding subsidy for lenders, which has given builders the momentum to continue expansion through 2014.

"While it is true that the industry slump did slow production over the last few years, it is important to be able to respond quickly and efficiently to market changes and in line with customer demand.

"The nature of the wider Wienerberger product offering as the biggest brick manufacturer in the world means that we are able to use this critical mass to deal with short-term regional peaks in demand for bricks whilst maintaining efficient and sustainable production, and expanding production at Hartlebury is a key part of our strategy to continue to meet the demand for bricks."

Wienerberger owns the famous Baggeridge brand of bricks after buying the Sedgley-based company in 2006 for £89 million.

Following that deal most of the brick production at the Sedgley site was transferred to other factories and it was closed in 2009. The site is now due to be redeveloped for housing.

Wienerberger still has 14 factories – including one at Sandown near Aldridge – and six depots across the UK and is the world's largest brick manufacturer.

The UK housing market is expected to see work start on 165,000 homes this year, 23,000 more than the year before.

The production of 200 million more bricks equates to enough to build around 25,000 new homes. The work on taking the two UK plants out of mothballs is already under way and they are expected to be back in production within the next few months.

Wienerberger's MD in Austria, Harald Schwarzmayr, added: "The UK needs a minimum of 200,000 new homes to be built each year, approximately 35,000 more than will be started in 2014. With our capacity increases equating to approximately 25,000 homes each year, Wienerberger is capable of manufacturing the core material for more than 70 per cent of that extra housing requirement needed.

"These are big numbers, and we hope it shows exactly how serious we are about giving our customers and the industry the best possible service. Likewise, we are very much aware that we need to attract more young people into construction, and the 120 new jobs created should help provide opportunities to the next generation of construction industry workers".