Forterra invests 114 million euros in the new Desford facility

Construction of the new plant owned by Forterra, the leading UK producer of masonry products, is proceeding at full pace.

The £95 million (almost 114 million euro) investment will transform the company’s facility in Desford, Leicestershire into what the owners believe will be the largest and most efficient brick factory in Europe. The existing plant will continue to operate until the new factory starts up in 2022. The project will double production capacity from the current 85 million bricks/year to 180 million bricks annually, enough to build 24,000 average-sized family homes.

The new Desford facility will be a model of manufacturing efficiency, output and sustainability with state-of-the-art automated processes that will minimise the plant’s environmental impact. The investment will increase Forterra’s total capacity in 2022 to 700 million bricks/year (+16%). The history of Forterra plc dates back to the 1960s, when it operated as Hanson’s UK building products division, which was sold in 2007 to HeidelbergCement Group and finally acquired in 2015 by Lone Star Funds which rebranded the company under the name Forterra.

In April 2016 the company gained admission to the London Stock Exchange as an independent listed company. Forterra, which employs over 1,900 staff across 18 manufacturing facilities, closed the financial year 2019 with revenues up 3.4% to £380 million, Ebitda at 82.7 million (+4.9%) and operating profit down 3,1% to £65 million. formerly