OA Regions: Industrialisation in Action at Ibstock Nostell
Brick is one of our oldest manufactured building materials. Its history stretches back thousands of years to the earliest settled civilisations, with clay and mud bricks used extensively across ancient Mesopotamia. The basic principle of taking clay and turning it into a durable building product has survived for millennia, yet the way we manufacture it continues to evolve.
For our latest OA Regions event, we visited Ibstock's Nostell factory in West Yorkshire, giving members the opportunity to see that evolution first hand and follow the manufacturing process from raw clay through to finished product.
The scale of the Nostell operation is impressive. Once fully operational, the facility is designed to have capacity to manufacture around 50 million IBricks (thin bricks) per year.
During the visit we were able to follow the complete production journey, seeing how the clay is prepared and formed, how colour and texture are applied, and how the products move through firing and finishing before leaving the factory ready for use across construction projects nationwide.
It is the combination of scale and choice that makes the process so interesting. Manufacturing at this volume does not mean producing millions of identical products. Different colours, textures and finishes can be introduced through a controlled manufacturing process, allowing variation in the finished product while maintaining the consistency, quality and repeatability required at scale.
As construction becomes more industrialised, the conversation can sometimes focus on moving away from traditional materials and traditional ways of building. Nostell provides a different perspective. We do not necessarily need to move on from brick; we need to move on in the way we think about how it is produced, specified and integrated into modern construction. A material that has been used for thousands of years can still form part of an industrialised construction system when the processes around it embrace automation, manufacturing discipline, repeatability and scale.
The raw material journey adds another dimension. Clay is currently transported to Nostell from other locations within Ibstock's operations, while the site has its own clay reserves that are planned for future development. As those plans progress, the journey from raw material to finished façade product will increasingly take place on the same site.
Martin [Head of Commercial Operations - Facades] commented on the development of Nostell and Ibstock's investment in the facility:
One of my favourite parts of the job is being able to host customers at our new Nostell Horizon facility and seeing the reaction. Offsite Alliance does a fantastic job of bringing together like-minded people from around the industry with a keen interest in offsite construction and MMC. This new investment from Ibstock is at the heart of it, and this visit generated some fascinating conversations around where the industry is going and the potential for further, and earlier, cross collaboration between designers, contractors and manufacturers.
For the Offsite Alliance, the value of OA Regions is not simply getting people through the doors of factories. It is about bringing together manufacturers, contractors, clients and the wider supply chain to see what is already possible, understand the challenges and have better conversations about how industrialisation can be applied across construction.
That connection between manufacturing capability and its application on live projects is an important part of the conversation. For those designing and delivering industrialised construction, seeing the manufacturing process first-hand provides a much clearer understanding of the opportunities, interfaces and constraints that need to be considered much earlier in the design process.
Chris Woodmansey from REDS10 reflected on what the visit meant from a delivery and technology perspective:
It was a really positive and industry-relevant factory visit; there were multiple elements throughout the day that applied directly to both live and upcoming projects we have going on at REDS10. From a technologist's perspective, thinking about design ability and limitations, it was beneficial to see first-hand the product being manufactured. Observing how Ibstock have also implemented their own controlled automation approach ties in well with how REDS10 are industrialising construction and using products like those on show at Ibstock supports their approach. Thanks to Gaynor and the Offsite Alliance for the opportunity.
Gaynor Tennant, Founder and Chair of the Offsite Alliance, said:
“We talk a lot about industrialisation in construction, but seeing a facility like Nostell brings it to life. We are taking one of the oldest building materials in the world and applying automation, technology and manufacturing thinking to produce it at incredible scale, without losing the choice of colour, texture and finish that designers and clients want.
“This is exactly why we run OA Regions. Getting people into factories, seeing how things are actually made and bringing different parts of the industry together creates a very different conversation about what industrialisation can mean for construction.”
Visits like Nostell are an important part of the OA Regions programme because industrialisation is much broader than a particular construction system or category of offsite solution. It is about applying manufacturing thinking, automation, process control, investment and repeatability across construction, while creating opportunities for different parts of the sector to learn from one another.
Where should OA Regions take us in 2027?
Is there a factory, manufacturing facility or project you think the industry needs to see? Is there a particular technology, process or approach you would like to understand better? Perhaps you have a facility or project of your own that could open its doors to the OA community.
Tell us where you think OA Regions should go next.
We are starting to shape our OA Regions programme for 2027 and we would love to hear your ideas. If there is a factory, facility, project or technology you think we should explore, or if your organisation would be interested in hosting an OA Regions visit, simply scan the QR code or follow the link below to complete our short form.
Help us shape OA Regions 2027.
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