FIRED CLAY

TILES: Danish brickyards and tileworks supply bricks, roof tiles and floor tiles for buildings all over the world. Today tiles are product developed as never before

It is the world’s oldest building material, dug up from the ground, formed, dried and fired into a hard and virtually everlasting building block. Clay that was formed many thousands of years ago is today the basic material for making bricks, roof tiles, floor tiles and ceramic art in all its forms.

Firing clay is not a Danish invention. While Danes were still living a Stone Age existence 5,000 years ago, the peoples of Babylon and China were fabricating spectacular buildings which are still there today. But ever since the technology arrived in Denmark 1,000 years ago, fired clay has been the preferred building material of Danes. And the technology has been developed to such perfection that Danish brickyards and tileworks export bricks and roof tiles for architectural masterpieces around the world.

Thomas and Jens Piper

Product development

“In contrast to most other building materials, bricks are regarded as something permanent and indestructible, the epitome of robustness,” says managing director Jens Piper of A/S Randers Tegl, which is Scandi-navia’s largest manufacturer of bricks, roof tiles and floor tiles. “And although the production method is basically the same today as it was 6,000 years ago, there is rapid product development of new types of bricks and tiles, in various colours and

firings which has an influence on contemporary construction.” Until a few decades ago, there were vast numbers of brickyards and tileworks across Denmark making various forms of bricks and roof tiles dependent on the type of clay available locally. But at the beginning of the 1960s automation gained speed, mergers and acquisitions occurred, and the numbers dwindled from around 220 to around 40 brickyards and tileworks at the beginning of the 1980s. In Denmark today there are around 25. A/S Randers Tegl is a sales organisation for 9 brickyards and tileworks, 7 of which are in Denmark. Pipers Teglværker is the dominant member of the group, owning 6 of the 9 companies.

The Great Wall of Chine

“As with so many other things, the construction industry is influenced by fashions, and naturally is also affected by economic conditions,” says Jens Piper. “Bricks have always epitomized permanence and timelessness, both concerning quality and aesthetics. In the last 10-15 years, wood has become a popular house-building material on the Danish market, but today we see progress for brick construction as never before. This is particularly driven by new brick products which open up a wealth of opportunities regarding colours, structures and architectural expressions.”

 One Danish building which has not been affected by fads is Skejby Hospital in Århus, Denmark’s second largest city. The first part of the hospital was built just over 20 years ago in red brick supplied by Randers Tegl. And the hospital is being continuously enlarged with exactly the same bricks as when construction first began.

“So far we have supplied more than 30 million bricks,” says Jens Piper, “and that makes it Denmark’s largest brick construction. To us it is substantial, although I must admit that it doesn’t come close to the world’s largest construction – The Great Wall of China. Without knowing for sure, I would reckon they used about 4 billion large brick blocks for that wall. And it’s still there 2,000 years later. That says something about their indestructibility.”

RANDERS TEGL

A/S Randers Tegl produces around 170 million bricks and 35 million roof tiles annually at the 9 brickyards and tileworks that the sales organisation represents. That corresponds to around 6,500 fully brick built Danish one-family houses. The Group, which employs around 400 people, has Scandinavia’s broadest product range with more than 80 different types of brick and more than 50 types of roof tile in various sizes, firings and colours. The Group forecasts revenues of more than DKK 500 million in 2006.

http://www.randerstegl.dk

PREFABRICATED BRICK WALLS

One of the companies in A/S Randers Tegl Group, Carlsberg Mur, was the first to develop industrial production of prefabricated brick walls. They are supplied in a range of finished forms, with load bearing beams, window and door rebates and integrated electricity cable conduits and sockets. The key differentiating factors from traditional brickwork are precision, time saving and building economy. The prefabricated walls are manufactured in an advanced plant and are supplied directly to building sites where the shell can be built in a single day.

Industrialised craft

“We use a fully automated plant where the entire brick assembly part is controlled by robots,” says Thomas Piper, who is head of strategy and development at A/S Randers Tegl. Thomas Piper, the son of director Jens Piper, is a 4th generation family member in Scandinavia’s largest brickyard and tileworks group. “With element construction we have taken the step from traditional brick building to rational and industrial construction of inner walls and divid-

Prefabricated brick walls offer quick building times and rapid construction and closing of the shell. The advanced robots, which carry out work based on 3D models and digital project descriptions, have so far enabled an unmatched accuracy and a strength corresponding to the best concrete element construction. The brick walls are all produced pre-stressed i.e. with built-in reinforcement, and so have a high load bearing capacity providing considerable flexibility and architectural freedom.

“Brick construction has always been unrivalled when it comes to indoor climate and insulation ability, both regarding sound insulation and heat insulation,” says Thomas Piper. “Bricks also provide the aesthetic and architectural character which bring genuine added value to the building. It is quite simply rational construction with the qualities of the craft.”

http://www.carlsberg.dk