Midland Brick

Midland Brick supplies building and construction materials including bricks, concrete blocks, pavers, retaining walls, roof tiles and stone cladding.[1] Products are supplied to customers in Australia, New Zealand and Asia.[1] Midland Brick headquarters are located in Middle Swan, Western Australia.[2]

Midland Brick
IndustryBuilding and construction materials
FoundedBrickyard established in Middle Swan, Western Australia in 1946, later to become Midland Brick Co. Pty Ltd. in 1953
FounderCharles and Gerald New
HeadquartersMiddle Swan, Western Australia
Area served
Australia, New Zealand and Asia
ProductsBuilding products: bricks, concrete blocks, pavers, retaining walls, roof tiles and stone cladding
ParentBuckeridge Group of Companies
Websitewww.midlandbrick.com.au

History

In 1946 Charles New, who was called Ric, and his brother Gerald, who was called Gerry, set up a brickyard in Middle Swan, Western Australia with £200 borrowed from their mother, to address the severe shortage of building supplies—especially bricks—after World War II.[3][4][5]

Ric collected clay from the Darling Range and experimented making bricks in his oven at home.[3][4] Subsequently, in 1947, using second hand bricks, the brothers built their first square updraft kiln and, using war-surplus materials and equipment, made their own machinery.[3][4][5]

In 1949 Ric established Western Australia's first brick laying school and, in that year, and throughout the 1950s Midland Brick constructed more kilns and created new types of bricks.[4][5] In 1953 the brothers established Midland Brick Co. Pty Ltd.[3] Ten years later, following a trip to the United States, they began to plan and build a new and more efficient tunnel kiln.[3]

In 1972 Midland Brick developed and introduced the first commercial pavers into Western Australia.[4][5] The first of these were used in the construction of the Perth Concert Hall and are still in place today.[4][5] The firm was said to have promoted the Perth tradition of building double-brick homes.[3][4][5] By the end of the 1970s Midland was making 83 types of bricks.[5] Around this time production costs were significantly reduced due to mechanisation and innovation, and fuel costs were specifically reduced by the use of natural gas, delivered by the new Dongara to Perth gas pipeline.[3][5]

In 1985 Midland Brick acquired Whitemans Brick.[6] The nine kilns that came with the acquisition made the firm the world's largest brick producer on one site, which was recognised in the 1996 edition of the Guinness Book of Records.[5][6] By 1989 Midland Brick employed 850 people, had sales of $100 million annually and produced nearly a million bricks a day, supplying about 80 per cent of the Western Australian market and exporting a proportion.[3][4]

After Ric died in 1989, Gerry sold Midland Brick to Boral in 1990.[3][4] By the late 1990s Midland Brick was the world's largest exporter of clay bricks and pavers to Japan and South Korea and one of the world's biggest brick and paver exporters overall.[7][8][9] In 2006 the firm commissioned Kiln 11, a high-tech robotic kiln which can produce up to 50 million bricks each year. The kiln is more environmentally friendly, using less gas with fewer emissions and less waste and able to produce a greater range of bricks.[10] In the same year the company had to deal with issues relating to pollution.[11]

In August 2019, Boral agreed terms to sell Midland Brick to the Buckeridge Group of Companies (BGC).[12][13] On 1 September 2021, the Brikmakers brand owned by BGC was retired after operations were integrated into the single Midland Brick brand.[14]

References
  1. "Midland Brick About Us". Midland Brick. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  2. "Midland Brick Contact Us". Midland Brick. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  3. McIlwraith, John. "New, Charles Richard (1914–1989)". Biography - Charles Richard New. Retrieved 13 July 2019. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  4. "Our story from the ground up 70 years - Building WA: Celebrating 70 years Midland Brick" (PDF). Midland Brick. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  5. "Midland Brick founder Ric New wins Robert Law Award" (PDF). Master Builders Western Australia Media Release. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  6. "Midland Brick A History of Brickmaking in WA". Midland Brick. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  7. "Midland Brick's new high-tech kiln an environmental milestone". Media Statements Western Australia Government. Archived from the original on 14 July 2019. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  8. "Japan big customer at Midland Brick". Japanese Perth Times. Vol. 55. Western Australia. 1 September 1994. p. 2 (The Japanese Perth Times English Edition). Retrieved 15 July 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. May, Mardi; Natoli, Vittorio (1996). Burke, Andrew (ed.). Bricks and Mortar: A Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Midland Brick. Shenton Park, Western Australia: Dragon International Publishing. ISBN 978-1-875662-01-2. OCLC 38416549.
  10. "Midland Brick". Home in WA. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  11. "Midland Brick faces charge over pollution". Australasian Business Intelligence. Comtex. 26 October 2006. ISSN 1320-6680. OCLC 222783979.
  12. Evans, Simon (23 August 2019). "Boral quits bricks in Australia". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  13. "BGC's proposed acquisition of Midland Brick not opposed". Australian Competition & Consumer Commission. 17 December 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  14. "BGC maintains heritage while positioning for future growth". Midland Brick. 1 September 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
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