The company says it is helping homebuilders by providing an alternative to traditional kiln-fired clay bricks, which are currently in low supply.
The past five years saw a marked downturn in the UK’s housing market, which led to the shutdown of many clay brick facilities as the industry adapted to low demand. In recent months, however, the housing sector has shown strong signs of recovery, but clay brick manufacturers have not been able to ramp up production at the same pace, with wait times of up to four months.
Cemex is supporting homebuilders with Readybricks, which are made of the same materials and which complement Cemex blocks.
“With Readybrick, we are providing value to our customers by offering a sustainable and environmentally-friendly building solution that is available immediately,” says Jesús González, Cemex president.
In the fourth quarter of 2013, Cemex reported a 5% increase in net sales for its operations in Northern Europe. The residential sector was one of the the main drivers of demand in the United Kingdom, supported by low mortgage rates and low unemployment.
Sales of ReadyBrick have started extremely well, already surpassing the target set, indicative of the growing market in house building. This type of brick is known as a spacer or coursing brick and is suitable for areas and surfaces where the brick will not be seen and requires plastering or rendering.
One of the raw materials going into Readybrick is quarry dust, which would potentially go to landfills, making ReadyBrick an environmentally-friendly choice. Bypass dust is used at a rate of 10% by weight of cement.
