UK Brick Manufacturers & Specialists UK

The Michelmersh Group and Floren brand strives to be a well-invested, long term, sustainable and environmentally responsible business, dedicated to delivering quality products.

For more than 125 years, we are Brick Specialists and Europe’s trusted clay brick manufacturer

Other statistics we’re proud of, include…

Over 22 million

Clay bricks
made per year

Michelmersh Brick Holdings PLC Group owns seven market-leading premium brands, Blockleys, Carlton, Charnwood, Floren.be, Freshfield Lane, Michelmersh and Hathern Terra Cotta. These divisions operate within a fully integrated business, combining the production of premium, precision-made bricks, pavers, special shaped bricks and bespoke Terra Cotta products. The Group also includes a landfill operator, New Acres Limited, and seeks to develop future landfill and development opportunities on ancillary land assets. The Michelmersh Group, remains at the forefront of industry innovation being the first UK clay product manufacturer to offer intuitive Building Information Modelling files, hosted on its dedicated platform bimbricks.com. Michelmersh also conducted the World’s first 100% Hydrogen fired clay brick trials in a feasability study named HyBrick, to complement its innovative decarbonisation strategy.

Sustainability

Floren and the Michelmersh Group supports the UK Government pledge to achieve net zero by 2050 and Belgium’s net-zero target is 2050, in line with the European Union’s (EU) goal of climate neutrality by the same year.

Floren is dedicated to sustainable building solutions that adhere to the most stringent production requirements, using modernised production methods to guarantee high-quality product standards with a low ecological footprint.

Focusing investment and expertise to prioritise the de-carbonisation of clay brick manufacturing, the Group has set ambitious 2030 Sustainability KPIs. Alongside our ESG company-wide objectives, we have already achieved 100% of our electricity provided by renewables from October 2022 and announced our HyBrick project; a global first feasibility trial, amongst a wide variety of other energy and carbon reduction initiatives.

Read why we are leaders in sustainability

Our Collections

Floren’s products can be used in a wide variety of contexts; excelling with sensitive conservation requirements and complementing contemporary designs to form inspiring architecture. With substantial experience in both traditional and modern prestigious schemes, the team offers a research and development service that is yet to be rivalled. We evolve the design alongside your conceptual ideas and onto the bespoke forms and blends that you desire.

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Brown

The Brown range includes bricks with a variety of brown colour nuances. Some bricks display a nuanced, soft grey-taupe colour, while others are coloured dark brown in the mass and nuanced brown-black on the surface. These variations in colour create a rich, natural look that combines both warm and cool tones, ideal for various architectural styles.

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Classics

The Classics range are timeless facing bricks with a recuperative appearance in shades of red, orange and dark red, with grey-blue, white, black and beige deposits. This rich variety of colours makes the Classics range perfect for creating a unique, timeless and classic look.

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Inca

The Inca range consists of bricks in uniform shades of purple, black, red and white. The bricks have a hand-form texture, which adds to their authentic and rough finish. The rich variety of shades and hand-form texture make the Inca range perfect for projects that require a striking, monumental look.

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La Paloma

The La Paloma range, manufactured in Spain, offers stylish stones in various shades from white over grey to black. With their clean, modern look, these bricks are ideal for contemporary and minimalist designs. Thanks to its high-quality finish and durable quality, the La Paloma range is perfect for projects with a distinct architectural character.

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Lava

The Lava range features bricks with a heavily roughened and planed surface, giving the bricks a robust, textured finish. The dark brown mass is finished with blue-grey, white or reddish-brown veils on the surface. These features create a tough, natural look that fits perfectly with both modern and industrial architecture.

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Passionata

The Passionata range offers bricks with rough and aged character thanks to tumbled head and stretch sides. Rich cement shades enhance the authentic look of a reclaimed brick and the addition of shorter bricks allow for a rich wildlife bond. A perfect choice for timeless charm and rustic elegance.

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Red

The Red Facade brick range offers bricks with a rich, red Kempicsh base colour with unique nuances. The bricks range from orange to red, with yellow and ochre accents. Or have burgundy, purple and purple nuances. Perfect for those who want to add warmth and authenticity to any project.

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Smoked

The Smoked range includes bricks with a thoroughly blue-grey colour or a nuanced light green-grey shade. This collection of blue-grey and grey-green bricks offers a powerful, timeless appeal. With their subtly tumbled colours, they add sophistication, elegance and robustness to any building project, perfect for a contemporary and stylish ambience. Whether untumbled or tumbled, these variations offer lots of opportunities to create unique and characterful designs, giving any project an exclusive and personal touch.

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Solar Shades

On a roughened texture, the Solar range offers various softly nuanced veiled facing bricks on a brown base. Perfect for modern architecture with bold aesthetics and powerful character. A stylish choice for timeless designs. The shades can be perfectly combined to play with surfaces.

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Toscana

The Toscana range offers bricks with rough and aged character thanks to tumbled head and stretch sides. Cement veils enhance the authentic look of a reclaimed brick. A perfect choice for timeless charm and rustic elegance.

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Core Values

Michelmersh and Floren actively promote and reinforce their four Core Company Values at the heart of its stakeholders.

Integrity

Retain strong moral principles, mirrored by Michelmersh’s employees to act in an ethical manner in all areas of the business and uphold the qualities of being honest and reliable.

Respect

Michelmersh believes all people should be treated fairly and without fear of discrimination. The Group encourages a culture of consideration and value for each other through respect.

Innovation

The Group constantly strives to advance and improve through modernising processes, training staff, updating technology or equipment and always being forward-thinking.

Sustainability

Awareness of Michelmersh’s social and environmental responsibilities is key to our business, to protect the future for generations to come.

Renowned for quality clay products, Michelmersh offers clients a bespoke service, including handmade blending and high standards of quality assurance. Each item is carefully tailored to exact specifications for the perfect finish and lasting durability. The Group’s products combine traditional strength and high achievement of modern standards to ensure that we are building for the future. We are proud of the way in which we are shaping and leading the brick industry.

For reliability, unparalleled workmanship and high performance that meets any requirement, you have come to the right team. The Group’s timelessly authentic, warm, earthy, natural bricks give character to any build. We ensure that your development will command the character and charm that it deserves when using our products. Our clay units are specified up and down the country, issued for both public and private sectors and across a multitude of profiles, from schools and hospitals to theatres and offices. This is why it is our responsibility to offer a wide cross-section of colours and rich textures to meet all your needs, fulfilling the most stringent of planning requirements. We combine unbeatable quality in volume productions that professionals can rely on, with support and logistics that beat the competition.

1997

1999

2000

2010

2017

2019

2022

Established

Established in 1997, the Company has grown through acquisition and organic growth into a profitable and asset-rich business, producing over 125 million clay bricks and pavers annually. Michelmersh strives to be a well-invested, long-term, sustainable and environmentally responsible business, dedicated to delivering quality products. The Group aims to provide optimum training, security and career progression for all of its employees, whilst acting as a responsible corporate citizen and keeping stakeholder value at the forefront of every decision.

Dunton Brothers and Michelmersh Brick & Tile

Michelmersh Brick Holdings PLC was established.

Charnwood Forest Brick

Charnwood Forest Brick was acquired.

Blockleys Brick

Blockleys Brick was acquired.

Freshfield Lane Brickworks

Freshfield Lane Brickworks was acquired.

Carlton Brickworks

Carlton Brickworks was acquired.

Floren.be

Floren.be was acquired.

2022

FabSpeed was acquired.

ESG Strategy

The Michelmersh Group is a responsible business and holds itself to high ethical, sustainable and corporate standards. Floren and the other brands operating under Michelmersh are committed to being a responsible company and we operate in accordance with high standards of ethical conduct.

Learn about our strategy

Environmental

The Michelmersh Group has over 500 acres of land, encouraging the re-introduction of habitats and wildlife to its former quarry sites, to allow nature reserves, lakes and natural spaces to flourish. Its UK and European plants adhere to strict environmental codes of practice. With well-maintained clay resources which are stringently operated in cohesion with our surroundings, the Group shows its commitment to energy efficiency and carbon emission reductions, with Floren leading in renewable electricity generation at its site.

Social

The Group aims to provide optimum training, security and career progression for all of its employees, whilst acting as a responsible corporate citizen and keeping stakeholder value at the forefront of every decision. We encourage the development of a strong mental health support network of first aiders and we ensure high standards so Health & Safety compliance and proactive reporting.

Governance

The Directors acknowledge the importance of high standards of corporate governance and, given the Company’s size and the constitution of the Board, have developed its procedures to comply with the principles set out in the Quoted Companies Alliance Corporate Governance Code 2018 (QCA Code) and alignment with best practice wherever possible.

Our People

Design advise, superb interpretations and first-rate customer service are given to each and every project. We are committed to providing the finest level of support with all of our premium products, designed to perform as beautifully as they look, enhancing the built environment for generations to come.

Floren aims to provide training, security and career progression for all of its employees, whilst acting as a responsible corporate citizen and keeping stakeholder value at the forefront of every decision.

View our people

Chief Financial Officer

Rachel Warren

IT Director

Robin Cox

Floren General Manager

Michel de Corswarem

Senior Independent Director

Paula Hay-Plumb

Chief Executive Officer

Ryan Mahoney

Chair

Tony Morris

Group Operations Director

Michael Brophy

Innovation & Sustainability Director

Sarah Le Gresley

Northern Commercial Director

Martin Jump

Southern Commercial Director

Mark Wall

Finance Director

Karen Johnson

Human Resources Director

Carl Jones

Technical Director

Paul Freeman

Michelmersh Brick Holdings PLC holds the following certification

Our Affiliations

Michelmersh and the Floren brand are continuously investing in its online proposition, quality of services, assurance of its high Health & Safety standards, and its support or partnership of recognised organisations which give assurance and a high level of trust to our valued customers.

Contact our experts

Our Process

Floren produces over 22 million bricks a year, based in Brecht, Belgium. Our facility produces extruded brick types with varying colours, styles and textures. Each range of bricks is produced to an incredibly high standard to ensure that the end consumer receives quality products.

Obtaining & Mixing

Local Sources

The Floren factory uses clay from its local quarry, which is no more than 2.5km away. Clay is the most important part of the brick, it determines the properties, quality and look of the finished product and brick plants are usually established where you find an abundance of the right clay. Floren’s factory use one type of manufacturing process, extruded. The basic recipe for brickmaking includes clay, sand and water, mixed together to make bricks which are solid, strong, beautiful and durable.

Mixing

The process of mixing the clay together and adding water is part of the clay’s preparation and ensures the mixture is the desired consistency. Once the mixture is perfect it makes its way through crushers and rollers, smoothing the mixture and more water is added where needed. The clay mixture is now ready and is extruded like a tooth paste and cut at the desired dimesnion to form the clay brick unit.
Surveying & Moulding

Moulding

A wide variety of our bricks are produced by the mixture being pushed through a die (a brick-shaped hole) and then cut into brick pieces using wires. Bricks produced in this fashion are called “Extruded” or “Wirecut”. The texture on the outside of bricks produced like this can be changed by interchanging the dies during the extrusion process or after the brick has been fired, such as the use of a tumbler for rustic finishes.
Firing & Drying

Floren bricks

At Floren bricks are fired in a kiln. Bricks are fired using gas to a temperature of up to 1200°C.

Types of Firing

There are lots of different types of kilns and one of the most popular is a continuously fired tunnel kiln in which the bricks pass through, very slowly, on a continuous conveyor belt with bricks entering and being dried at one end, while at the other end they are being fired.

Vitrification

There are lots of different types of kilns and one of the most popular is a continuously fired tunnel kiln in which the bricks pass through, very slowly, on a continuous conveyor belt with bricks entering and being dried at one end, while at the other end they are being fired.
Distribution & Shipping

Packaging & Distribution

After this, the bricks are packed by hand or by robots and placed into storage until they are ready to be distributed either into stockists yards or delivered directly to site. Bricks’ resurgence as an environmentally conscious choice has maintained its popularity. Floren is focused on reducing single-use-plastics and puts a great deal of effort into the quality of its packaging processes.

The Floren factory uses clay from its local quarry, which is no more than 2.5km away. Clay is the most important part of the brick, it determines the properties, quality and look of the finished product and brick plants are usually established where you find an abundance of the right clay. Floren’s factory use one type of manufacturing process, extruded. The basic recipe for brickmaking includes clay, sand and water, mixed together to make bricks which are solid, strong, beautiful and durable.

The process of mixing the clay together and adding water is part of the clay’s preparation and ensures the mixture is the desired consistency. Once the mixture is perfect it makes its way through crushers and rollers, smoothing the mixture and more water is added where needed. The clay mixture is now ready and is extruded like a tooth paste and cut at the desired dimesnion to form the clay brick unit.

About Floren

For more than 125 years, we are Brick Specialists and Europe’s trusted clay brick manufacturer

Sustainability

Our Collections

Core Values

Our History

Established

Dunton Brothers and Michelmersh Brick & Tile

Charnwood Forest Brick

Blockleys Brick

Freshfield Lane Brickworks

Carlton Brickworks

Floren.be

2022

ESG Strategy

Environmental

Social

Governance

Our People

Rachel Warren

Robin Cox

Michel de Corswarem

Paula Hay-Plumb

Ryan Mahoney

Tony Morris

Michael Brophy

Sarah Le Gresley

Martin Jump

Mark Wall

Karen Johnson

Carl Jones

Paul Freeman

Michelmersh Brick Holdings PLC holds the following certification

Our Affiliations

Our Process

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