There are half a billion bricks lying unused in Britain, it has been revealed, piling fresh pressure on the government’s “stretch target” of building 1.5m homes by the next election.
As many as 500,000,000 bricks – enough to build 50,000 homes – are “just sitting there” in factory yards across the country, the GMB Union has warned.
The revelation comes as London’s listed housebuilders cut back on landbuying and warn on profits, as rising supply costs and soaring mortgage rates caused by the Iran war weigh on balance sheets and homeowner demand.
Workers from across the industry have warned the government that jobs across the country will be put at risk if it does not ramp up its efforts to meet its housebuilding target.
Lewis Parmenter, a brickworker, told GMB’s congress on Monday: “Right now, there are 500m bricks sat unused in factory yards across this country. You heard it right – 500m bricks just sitting there.
“That is enough to build 50,000 average-sized houses – or ten small towns. Enough to provide homes for hundreds of thousands of people.
“But without spades in the ground to build the homes we need, our industry will collapse and eight thousand jobs will go: including mine.”
Rayner admits ‘stretch’ target
The government’s ambition of building 1.5m homes by the next general election means it has to build 300,000 houses every year – a rate of construction not seen in decades.
About 203,000 homes were built in the 12 months to June, far short of this suggested pace, according to data compiled by the BBC.
Housing secretary Angela Rayner has refused to say that the government will not meet this target, though she admitted that it stands only a “slim” chance.
Rayner told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that “headwinds” caused by the Iran war were to blame for Labour’s sluggish progress to this target.
She said: “It’s a slim chance, but I’m definitely not giving it up. I think it’s really important that we keep a target, that it was always a stretch target.
Rayner pointed to the government’s recent allocation of £10bn of its social and affordable homes programme and said that home starts have accelerated by 15 per cent since last year.
“But the headwinds that are coming our way internationally and through those construction costs are having a negative effect on that target,” she said.