Brick Heritage with Claybrick

Quite literally the bricks and mortar with which any country is built, clay brick has a rich heritage in South Africa.

“Across South Africa, clay brick buildings have shaped our architectural heritage from the earliest settlements,” explains The Clay Brick Association.

“The very first clay bricks in South Africa were fired in 1656; since then this unrivalled building material has been used to beat our blistering heat, torrential rain, hail, frost and lightning storms.”

Today, still, some of our most prominent buildings such as the Bell Tower of the Castle of Good Hope, built between 1666 and 1684, the Green Point lighthouse erected in 1824, and the Pietermaritzburg City Hall, the largest clay brick building in the southern hemisphere, stand tall as beacons of the durability of this trusted building material.

Apart from its extreme durability and the ability to weather the harshest weather conditions, clay brick is preferred as a building material to this day for its cost-effectiveness, load-bearing capacity, energy-efficient properties and eco credentials.

“New alternative materials and systems are always presenting themselves as ‘the next big thing’ in construction technology, and claiming to be ‘as good as clay brick’”, says The Clay Brick Association.

“Although some materials can match clay brick on one or two measures, none can offer the full range of benefits across the spectrum. Some innovative construction materials were over time, proven to be deadly. Lead, asbestos and PVC are all building components commonly used in the past, that have more recently been shown to release toxins.”

“South Africa’s public sector infrastructure backlog is pressuring the government to focus on speed of erection rather than the essential aspects of safety, security, maintainability, investment value and lifespan,” adds Musa Shangase, President of the Clay Brick Association of South Africa.

“Public Works departments experiment with novel, alternative building systems but it is brick and mortar that are the mainstay of our country’s long-lasting infrastructure – the proven method of building that has endured the test of time.”

Contact: The Clay Brick Association of Southern Africa.
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