In 2017, 2018 and 2019, Wienerberger’s Ewhurst factory opened its doors to the public for Heritage Open Day (a day run by the National Trust as England’s contribution to the European Heritage Festival). Visitors were offered guided tours of Ewhurst’s brick and tile factory, and could get a behind-the-scenes look at the work of our highly skilled Heritage Services team.

Heritage Open Day visitors, from the local community and further afield, were told about the special conservation and restoration projects that the Keymer roof tiles and Heritage Services team are involved in. As well as being shown the 400-year-old method of producing Keymer tiles by hand, visitors were given the opportunity to have a go at making their own clay roof tile.

In 2016, Wienerberger was approached by the school governors from an infant school close to our Ewhurst factory, requesting assistance to replace an old wooden classroom called the Miller Hut. Originally constructed in the 1950s, the Hut had since become structurally unsafe and was no longer used.

We felt this was a great opportunity to help improve local services for the Ewhurst community and so we donated 6,000 bricks and roof tiles, namely our Olde Alton Yellow Multi brick and Traditional Elizabethan Keymer roof tiles for the project, as they beautifully complemented the main school building. The new building, named the Dove Centre, not only provides extra teaching space but enables the school to run a breakfast and after-school club. 

After staff at Broomfleet factory visited the Newport students in Yorkshire to describe how roof tiles were made and to explain the importance of saving energy in the manufacturing process, students were then invited to help encourage Broomfleet staff to save energy by creating colourful posters. The students produced fantastic eye-catching posters and as a thank you Ian Martinson, Broomfleet’s talented in-house sculptor, ran a special clay model-making workshop back at the factory.

Rob Jennings, Production Engineer and Energy Champion at Broomfleet said “Wienerberger is a major employer in the town and many students have relatives working at our factory. It’s been extremely rewarding to involve them in our energy saving campaign and inspire the next generation to join the industry.”

Wienerberger has partnered with Booth Ventures to ensure none of the extracted material from Mouselow Quarry is wasted. The shale extracted is a key ingredient for brickmaking at Wienerberger’s Denton factory, however between the shale layers is a band of sandstone which, although unsuitable for use in brick manufacturing, is ideal for architectural stonework projects.

To maximise the productivity of the quarry, Booth Ventures extracts the sandstone and in turn exposes the shale that Wienerberger’s Denton factory requires. Booth’s specialist crushing and grading equipment maximises the use of the sandstone, generating a wide range of aggregates from sand fill to block stone. The stone has been used in prestigious projects such as Dickens Yard in Ealing, London and the Corn Exchange, Manchester.