About Forterra

Forterra plc produces and sells masonry products in the United Kingdom. The company’s products include bricks, blocks, and bespoke. The company manufactures Fletton bricks, soft mud bricks, extruded bricks, and various other building products. The company manufactures engineered concrete structural flooring and stair solutions for all floor levels, across all markets in all building types, complemented by a nationwide design and installation service. It offers hollowcore floors, which are used for upper floors of multi-family and commercial developments and provide long-term, solutions for masonry, concrete or steel structures at all levels; beam and block flooring, a suspended flooring system for ground floors in domestic and commercial applications. The system is made using prestressed, inverted T beams infilled with standard building blocks; Jetfloor, which is the United Kingdom’s system to use expanded polystyrene blocks combined with a structural concrete topping to provide high levels of thermal insulation; a range of retaining walls, culverts, bridge decks, barriers and other custom-made products; and standard and custom-made precast concrete staircases and landings which are suitable for both commercial and domestic projects. Products sold under the Formpave brand include Aquaflow sustainable urban drainage systems, a patented filtration system that allows rainwater to be filtered and cleaned before being percolated into the ground or a patented attenuation (tanked) system that allows water to be collected and released into watercourses, which is sold together with the Group’s permeable block paving for use by a customer to create such systems. Alternatively, it could be used in conjunction with a rain water harvesting system which greatly reduces mains water consumption; permeable block paving, a sustainable solution to traditional hard landscaping and urban drainage installation which allows drainage through vertical channels at a rate of approximately 9,000 litres per metre square per hour; a range of precast concrete block paving to suit all projects from commercial to domestic applications; and a range of kerbs, edging, step systems and transitions suitable for use with conventional block and permeable block paving. The company manufactures a range of concrete block paving products which could be used in its patented sustainable urban drainage system. The company, under its Red Bank brand, produces a comprehensive range of chimney, roofing and flue systems. Products include fire-backs, clay and concrete flue liners, chimney pots and ridge tiles. The company manufactures a range of masonry chimney products suitable for all domestic fuels. The company, through Structherm Limited, manufactures structural external wall insulation (SEWI) solutions for residential buildings. It provides a rigid, structurally continuous envelope around the building with a render finish and is a real alternative to demolition. The company manufactures bricks in Great Britain and manufactures the iconic and original Fletton brick, which is sold under the London Brick brand. The company manufactures three types of clay facing bricks, such as Fletton bricks, soft mud bricks and extruded bricks. Its bricks are sold through a range of brands primarily for use in residential building construction, both in the new build and repair, maintenance and improvement markets, and to a lesser extent for commercial buildings. The company manufactures various specialist types of extruded bricks, such as special shaped bricks, modular bricks and blocks, restoration bricks, and walling and cladding systems. The company manufactures the iconic and original Fletton brick sold under the London Brick brand. Its soft mud bricks are primarily sold in the South of England. Extruded bricks are the most widely used brick type in residential new build construction. The company manufactures aircrete blocks in Great Britain. These blocks are sold under the Thermalite brand name. The company also produces aggregate blocks two sites. Aircrete blocks are a lightweight concrete product manufactured primarily from pulverised fuel ash, cement and lime, which the company sells under its Thermalite brand. The company also produces trenchblocks which are a thermal building block for solid foundation walls which are commonly used in high sulphate bearing soils. Aggregate blocks are used for structural elements in residential and commercial construction. Aggregate blocks are also used to construct schools and cinemas due to their acoustic requirements. The company’s bespoke products range comprises precast concrete, concrete block paving, chimney and roofing solutions and structural external wall insulation, each of which is primarily specified made-to-measure or customized to meet the customer’s specific needs. Strategy The key elements of the company’s strategy are to align capacity to market conditions; pursue manufacturing excellence; continue to focus on health and safety and core sustainability values; product and service innovation; and product range enhancement. Its strategy is to retain and grow market share in the short- to medium-term by utilizing its existing, well-invested manufacturing facilities, available production capacity and available inventories. Customers The company’s main brick customers are homebuilders, builders’ merchants and specialized brick merchants who provide exposure to its end markets, being residential new build and repair, maintenance and improvement and commercial construction. The company’s main block customers are builders’ merchants who provide exposure to its end markets, being residential new build and repair, maintenance and improvement and commercial construction. The company’s products have a customer base, comprising builders’ merchants, residential homebuilders, specialist brick merchants, contractors and subcontractors. Competition The company’s competitors include Ibstock, Michelmersh, Wienerberger, H+H, Tarmac, Thomas Armstrong, CEMEX, Lignacite and Tarmac. The company’s main competitors in beam and block flooring are Rackman Housefloors, Longley, CEMEX and Litecast and its main competitors in hollowcore flooring are Bison Manufacturing, Creagh Concrete Products, FP McCann and Milbank. The company’s main competitors within the block paving market in the United Kingdom are Marshalls plc, Aggregate Industries (part of LafargeHolcim) and Brett. The company’s main competitors within the chimney and roofing market in the United Kingdom are Braas Monier and Wienerberger.