Here at London Reclaimed Brick Merchants, our main product is the iconic reclaimed London Yellow Stock brick; we often like to say, 'Yellow is the new Green.'
 
Predominately used within the London area, mass produced at Smead Dean Brickworks, Kent, in the early 1900s, Yellow Stock Bricks can also be found on the outskirts in smaller numbers. A Yellow Brick sometimes with a tinge of black fleck, which is ash in the clay turning black when fired. Colours can vary from bright canary to a darker shade of yellow.
 
At LRBM, we also stock high quality reclaimed bricks in a wide range of other colours, such as red and multi stocks with the same appearance and texture as yellow stocks but are an approximate mix of 80% yellow and 20% red within the pack.
 
Reclaimed bricks have wide ranging benefits too: 
 
Reduced Waste:
Using reclaimed bricks reduces waste. Many perfectly usable building materials are needlessly thrown away from demolition sites. This has a devastating ecological impact as large amounts of bricks and construction supplies are unnecessarily sent to landfill sites. Reclamation presents a fantastic opportunity to save and recycle these materials and protect the environment from harm.
 
We are especially proud as a company that takes part in this process. On one occasion, LRBM was able to reclaim almost 2 million London Yellow Stock bricks during work on a huge 12 month demolition job. Working as subcontractors on Mick George Ltd's Severalls Hospital Project in Essex, the LRBM reclamation team saved 1.8 million Yellow Stocks, equivalent to around 3,600 tonnes of reusable materials from landfill.
 
Lower emissions:
Working with reclaimed bricks — many of which have already been produced over a century beforehand — also completely removes the high-temperature brickmaking process, cutting carbon emissions and non-renewable energy use. Heat is required both to fire and dry new bricks, making brick production a particularly energy-consuming industry. Sadly these temperature requirements are inescapable and often use fossil fuels. As a pre-made building material, reclaimed bricks, however, are a practical way to avoid the environmental damages caused by production and can reduce CO2 emissions in the construction sector, which is known to have a large carbon footprint. 
 
One ton of newly manufactured bricks releases 258 kg of CO2 emissions, whereas a ton of recycled bricks emits 2,7 kg. New bricks emit 95 times more CO2 in their production than recycled bricks. This comparison of the new vs recycled bricks is based solely on activities in the production phases as defined in the EU standard for sustainability of construction works, EN15804.
 
A safer, more prosperous environment:
The demolition aspect of the reclamation process also contributes to public health and safety by pulling down unsafe derelict buildings in a secure and orderly manner, removing them as a danger to local communities. After the materials have been reclaimed, we can ensure that renovators, builders, bricklayers, landscapers and others have a steady supply of suitable bricks to be used in their work throughout London, where conservation and heritage areas — which generally only permit the use of reclaimed bricks in building and restoration work — are especially common, contributing to public prosperity.
 
LRBM is a Salvo Code member, stocking in excess of three million bricks, 90% of which are acquired through reclamation following our own demolition and dismantling service. The reclaimed bricks are hand-picked and cleaned from excess mortar and cement, then quality checked and palletised into types and colour enabling us to be more than capable of supplying and catering to a wide range of renovation and new build projects.
 
Our brick matching service helps customers select the appropriate bricks, whether the demands see you having to meet strict planning permission guidelines or if you need to find bricks to fit suitably in an existing building. The range of bricks and other building materials in stock includes Imperial bricks, granite cobbles and natural stone.
 
Explore LRBM's reclaimed bricks in the Antique & Reclaimed listings on SalvoWEB, such as the reclaimed Plain Gault Single Cant Header Bricks linked below.