The Worshipful Company of Tylers & Bricklayers were out and about again this time to visit Keymer Tiles/Wienerberger at their Ewhurst Brick factory in Surrey. 

 

 

On hand to show us around was Alan Jupp and his team, where, following a short H&S induction and donning PPE, we firstly, in three groups, were shown around the Wienerberger Brick factory to view the whole process of making clay bricks.  About 30m bricks a year are produced at what is an almost fully automated process.

 

 

From ‘winning the clay’ to seasoning and turning it so that is was ready to load into the hoppers, the clay is then ground down to 2mm and then 1mm pieces.  Water is then added to the right consistency so the clay could then be forced through specially made dies in the extruder to form a long block of clay which is then wire cut in the traditional brick shapes.

 

 

The bricks are then stacked and dried for about 2 days using residual heat from the tunnel kiln on site before entering the kiln for another 2 days to bake making a total of 5 days to make from start to finish, if one considers an additional day for movement of the product from quarry to storage.

 

 

Following this once the bricks are cooled they are de-hacked and then packaged by robots to be stored and then sold on to merchants and homebuilders.

 

 

For tiles, in an adjunct to the factory, sits Keymer Tiles, first manufacturered in 1588 almost as old as our own company. The process used clay from the brick side of the factory which is then pressed into rough tile shapes which are kept wet, so they remain malleable, before being hand pressed by the tile makers on the site.  Each maker pressed about 1,200 tiles a day.

 

 

Incidentally Martin Oldridge and his son Nick were the original owners of the factory that made of one of Wienerberger’s product lines, Sandtoft roof tiles. so it was a poignant visit for them.

 

 

We were each able to make a tile ourselves, but it was clear that the real skill remained with the tile makers employed by Wienerberger and not us amateurs!

 

 

The Master - Jenny Rolls, Upper Warden - Alan Dodd, Renter Warden – David White and Chairman of our Craft Committee – Ian Wilson were all very pleased to have been able to experience the opportunity of visiting a core manufacturer in our industry.

 

 

A great deal of thanks also goes to Keith Barker the MD of Wienerberger and Tim Burgess, the manager of the factory for a most enjoyable day.  

 

Keith Aldis - Court Assistant