Huws Gray acts to beat brick shortage

Welsh Builders merchant Huws Gray is beefing up the offer from its specialist brick centres in order to help its customers round current material shortages.

Whilst the economic downturn since 2008 left brick manufacturers’ stock piling bricks worth £1.2 billion, the recent housing revival has seen that stockpile disappear rapidly by the turn of the year as the housing market revival, which started gathering momentum during 2013 continues through 2014.

Huws Gray Brick Specialist Centres have worked extremely hard behind the scenes to buck the trends and overcome the shortage crisis. The company has invested heavily in order to maintain stock levels and have been working closely with the main brick manufacturers to sustain and enhance a reliable and regular supply of quality stock.

With some of the main brick factories quoting 40 week lead times, or even closing their order books completely, Huws Gray have gone in the opposite direction with their close relationships with manufacturers such as Wienerberger, Ibstock, and Hanson.

Wienerberger class B engineering bricks red and blues 65 & 73mm are readily available, as are bricks from Hanson’s Measham, Kirton and Desford factories. Cheshire pre-war commons and Cheshire originals are also always in stock.

Huws Gray’s Dafydd Hughes says: “Our Brick Specialist Centres don’t only stock bricks. They have also been working closely with Thermalite to ensure that they always have plenty of shield and hi-strength blocks in stock.

“The friendly and knowledgeable staff at our Brick Centres in Warrington and Queensferry also offer a free brick matching service as well as a reliable and cost-effective nationwide delivery service. With over 8 million bricks in stock over 700 different product lines, customers are sure to find what they’re looking for.”