Increasing self-sufficiency in the UK housing market is boosting brick production, according to an expert.

Recent National House Building Council Figures showed new house registrations are at their highest level since 2007, and projections from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show that household numbers are set to increase at the rate of 210,000 billion per year.

Brick production in September was up 8.5% on the same month last year, consistent with the 9.5% increase in the rolling 12-month comparison to the previous period.

Speaking at the recent Brick Awards, the Brick Development Association Chief Executive Keith Aldis cited this to the increasing self-sufficiency in the UK housing market, with rising domestic brick production increasing at a faster rate than distribution.

Better than expected construction figures (up 2.1% in the three months to September) point to the sector gaining some momentum, despite background uncertainty over Brexit’s impact, with new housing performing particularly strongly.

This follows the opening of Ibstock Brick’s new Eclipse factory in June, and Tyrone-based Acheson + Glover increasing staff numbers at its factories in Toome and Dungannon.

The BDA’s spokesman Tom Farmer said: “Our members have demonstrated their confidence in the long-term outlook for new houses by investing in their production capacity”

“The number one priority for domestic policy on all sides of the political debate appears to be a determination to meet housing need – if we can build the required new homes with domestically-produced materials, so much the better”.