Accrington's Nori brick factory to re-open (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Accrington's Nori brick factory to re-open

2:10pm Tuesday 28th July 2009 in News By Emma Cruces, Reporter

ACCRINGTON’S famous brickworks is re-opening temporarily – as a councillor calls for the borough to help save the firm.

The Hanson Building Products factory, makers of Nori brick, have re-employed eight former workers on a temporary three-month contract.

They will join a skeletal staff of seven who have been overseeing remaining stocks since the plant, in Whinney Hill Road, between Altham and Accrington, closed in September. The small team is expected to renew production at a 20 per cent level.

Hyndburn Borough councillor Claire Pritchard has now called upon the council and its contractors to use Nori brick on new developments built as part of the Elevate regeneration scheme.

The brickwork’s closure led to over 80 redundancies as production of the red super-strength brick, used to build the foundations of the Empire State Building and Blackpool Tower, came to a halt. The Milnshaw ward councillor said: “I feel very strongly about Nori because it is what Accrington is known for. Nori brick was used in the foundation of the Empire State Building and it would be a disaster to lose it forever.

“Using a local product would take thousands of lorries off the roads and would be much better for the environment.

“The jobs market in Accrington would also benefit a great deal.”

The firm said it had large stocks of brick still to be sold but enough interest in the product to justify a three-month trial opening.

The factory is due to re-open in August with bosses of the company due to evaluate the firm’s performance in November.

A spokesman for the company welcomed Coun Pritchard’s idea as “a wonderful gesture” but said the factory would need firm numbers and orders on which to base a long-term decision.

Spokesman David Weeks said: "We have a large number of bricks still in stock and we need a large scale and permanent interest in the product.

"The Nori brick is a very unusual product and we know there is sufficient interest in the industry nationally to sustain three months production.”

Hyndburn Council leader Peter Britcliffe said: “A lot would depend on how competitively priced the brick was but it is a good idea.”