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Forterra has welcomed back Member of Parliament for Bosworth, Dr Luke Evans, to its Desford site recently which is currently undergoing a £95 million expansion. Once complete, it is set to be the largest and most efficient brick facility in Europe.
During the visit, Dr Evans was given a tour of the factory and shown the progress that has been made since the project started in 2019 and his previous visit two years ago.
The new factory is being built alongside the old site in order to ensure that the latter remains operational throughout construction and maintain production during the changeover. The work is expected to complete later this year, at which point the projected capacity will increase by 16% to 180 million bricks per annum, enough to build 24,000 family homes.
The modernised Desford site will offer a range of red and buff bricks designed to meet the demands of housebuilders. At the heart of the plant’s efficiency will be two new kilns using cutting-edge technology to reduce energy consumption and emissions.
Dr Evans said: “I first visited Forterra’s Desford site about 18 months ago and I’m pleased to see how well construction on the facility has come since then. They have put a phenomenal amount of money into the Desford site and the project has brought lots of high-skilled jobs to our area.
“I also talked to Forterra about the work they are doing to ‘plug the skills gap’ and encourage people from our area onto apprenticeships and training programmes so they can enter into highly paid jobs having learned valuable skills for the future.”
Stephen Harrison, chief executive at Forterra said “We were delighted to welcome Dr Evans back to see the progress made here at Desford over the past two years.
“As one of Britain’s largest manufacturers of building products, we endeavour to set the benchmark in terms of manufacturing efficiency, output and sustainability. Our new facility will allow us to respond to our customers’ increasing demand for products as the rate of housebuilding continues to accelerate nationwide.”
