Design With Purpose — Brickworks Pledges Sustainability
As a material that has remained ubiquitous and indispensable for centuries, brick is synonymous with the built environment. Since the 1930s, Brickworks Building Products has been at the forefront of both manufacturing and innovation, transforming the humble brick into a preeminent architectural material, all while consistently championing sustainability within the building industry.
Brickworks is one of the world’s largest material manufacturers, releasing over 100 brick, masonry and roofing products in 2020 alone. With an ethos of inspiring creativity through materiality and functionality, the company’s emphasis on collaboration has seen Brickworks engage closely with the architecture and design community to inform product development. Simultaneously, Brickworks has envisioned brick as a material with the potential to support sustainable building practices, most recently resulting in the company’s carbon neutral initiatives.
Underpinning Brickworks is a dedication towards and an understanding of brick as a material, founded on over 100 years manufacturing and supplying brick globally. Classically known for its reliability, solidity, durability and low maintenance requirements, as a building product brick’s reputation precedes it. Brick is a significant noise insulator, making it ideal for urban applications, and is also fireproof, which has increasingly made it a valuable material in bushfire- prone environments. It is also exceptionally versatile – a quality that is reflected in Brickworks’s extensive range, with over 100 colours, a range of finishes, shapes and sizes to choose from.
This vast product range exemplifies the company’s commitment to responding to the needs of the design industry through innovation and collaboration. With designs inspired by nature, like the Sculptured Sands range, or a minimalistic interpretation found within the Mineral Contours collection, Brickworks proudly offers a brick for every design. For a more earthy, romantic reclamation, the Overland collection is an intriguing addition to a more traditional built form, whereas the La Paloma range is a bold and modern design that feeds into architectural inspiration.
Collaboration has been a continual driving force behind the company, seen in a recent collaboration with one of Australia’s leading designers, Adam Goodrum. The partnership resulted in Kite Breeze – a modern reinterpretation of the iconic breeze block offered in a range of hues inspired by the Australian landscape. Tapping into the nostalgic appeal of the breeze block and harnessing it for contemporary application, Kite Breeze reacts to the surrounding landscape and climate while offering a sculptural and graphic effect that is enhanced by the interplay of light and airflow.
Just as Brickworks has drawn on the inherent qualities of the material to inform new products and design interpretations, the intrinsic sustainability credentials of brick have inspired the company to become a leader in the field. Brick is an enduring and recyclable material; the low-maintenance and natural resilience of bricks is unmatched in an array of climatic conditions, as bricks do not fade, rust or rot. Furthermore, its high thermal mass lowers household emissions by reducing the need for heating and cooling, saving up to two tonnes of carbon pollution from being emitted every year. With an acute understanding of the responsibility of the building industry, Brickworks is dedicated to reducing emissions and supporting the industry to reach sustainability targets, building foundations for a better future.
Unwavering in its commitment to sustainability, innovation and collaboration, Brickworks offers a wide range of building products, each one considered in its purpose, design and ability.
Brickworks has recently extended its carbon neutral offering. The company is the first to achieve two Climate Active Product Certifications – a government supported program helping consumers to reduce carbon emissions. Brickworks received a Climate Active Product Certification for the Tasmanian Austral Bricks factory as the first manufacturing site in Australia to provide certified carbon neutral bricks. As an expansion of this, the company attained a second Climate Active Product Certification with its opt-in program for architects, commercial builders and developers, allowing them to purchase carbon neutral brick and paver products sold from any Australian factory. This process is audited by Energetics, where an accurate embodied carbon calculator determines the emissions for the entire lifecycle of the brick, covering everything from sourcing to manufacturing, delivery and installation. Through this offering, Brickworks has facilitated significant reduction in carbon footprints and offsetting any remaining emissions.
Unwavering in its commitment to sustainability, innovation and collaboration, Brickworks offers a wide range of building products, each one considered in its purpose, design and ability. The extensive range is ever-changing, pushing limitations and maintaining innovation through considerable and consistent reinvention. Driven by a strong understanding of the power of brick, the company proposes the material as a resource-efficient product with infinite potential. From this, Brickworks draws on the wellspring of creativity in the Australian design community, supporting architects and builders to achieve their visions by supplying safe, resilient and sustainable products.
