2010 a difficult year for Dutch clay brick manufacturers

In 2010, the sales of facing bricks fell to a historic low. Although for the near future hope can be drawn from a slightly improving building sector economy and from the way in which the facing brick is embedded within the cultural ­history of the Netherlands, the clay brick industry must reflect on a new added value for façades and roads for the long-term. One of the challenges is the change in focus on the ceramic product from a building product into a building system. In relation to sustainability, the use of the material characteristics of ceramic offers unexpected possibilities. The...