Conservative MP for Bosworth, Dr Luke Evans led the launch ceremony, displaying the new factory’s sustainability credentials and advanced efficiency to industry experts, journalists and Forterra customers.
Investment totalling at £95m, the aim of the new factory revolves around growing capacity and boosting sustainability.
At full capacity, the Desford factory will be able to manufacture 180 million bricks annually, enough to produce 25,000 new homes and provide customers with an additional 120 million domestically produced bricks compared to the old factory’s previous output.
On a company-wide scale, this incline in brick production capacity represents a growth of around 22%.
With efficiency and sustainability at its heart, the new factory’s robotics hardware, and advanced packaging solutions means bricks produced at Desford will have a carbon footprint approximately 25% lower than those from the old factory.
CEO of Forterra, Neil Ash, commented: “We are thrilled to announce the opening of the Desford factory, which represents a significant milestone for Forterra. This new factory’s impressive production capacity demonstrates our commitment to meeting the ongoing demands of the housing sector in our mission to Keep Britain Building. At the same time, our innovations at Desford have streamlined our operations to ensure that our production is as efficient and sustainable as possible, so that we can satisfy customer demand whilst still being on course to meet our ambitious ESG targets.
“Indeed, the Desford factory is the latest in a series of investments and developments Forterra has made over the past year towards becoming more sustainable and efficient, including a solar farm, a new eco-fleet of trucks, and new packaging solutions which place us a step closer to achieving our goal of attaining a 50% reduction in single-use plastics by 2025. We’re thrilled to open the biggest, most efficient brick factory in Europe, and look forward to Desford’s productive future.”