A fifth of our bricks are now imported, and that is a specification risk before it is a cost one

Domestic brick production has fallen and imports have filled the gap. For a developer that shows up as specification risk long before it shows up as rate, because a brick fixed by a planning condition cannot simply be swapped.

The published materials statistics carry a figure that deserves more attention than it gets. Imports reached 352 million bricks in 2025, up 11.4% on the year before, and now make up around a fifth of the UK market. The trade deficit in bricks widened to 335 million units.

That is a structural change, not a blip, and it has three consequences for anyone costing a scheme.

Lead time

An imported brick has a supply chain measured in weeks rather than days, and it is exposed to shipping, port capacity and currency in a way domestically produced brick is not. On a scheme where the facing brick is fixed by a planning condition, that lead time is not negotiable and it sits on the critical path.

Specification risk

This is the one that catches developers out. Where a planning consent names a specific facing brick, or approves a sample panel, the contractor cannot substitute freely. If that brick is imported and the lead time slips, the options are to wait, or go back to the planning authority for a variation. Both cost money and one of them costs months.

We see this most often on conversions and heritage-adjacent sites, where the brick was the thing that got the scheme through the planning in the first place.

Price

Brick prices have been comparatively well behaved against other materials. The wider materials index rose 6.0% over the twelve months to June, with structural steel up 17.7% at one end and cement down 4.5% at the other. Brick has not been the problem. The exposure is not the current rate, it is that a fifth of supply now sits behind a currency and a shipping route.

Whilst brick prices have undoubtedly increased in the last 12 months, lead times remain relatively short. The industry does not seem to be seeing the long waits of the pandemic and its immediate aftermath. The exposure is structural rather than a delay we are meeting today.

What to do about it

Establish early whether the facing brick is specified, approved or merely indicated, because the three carry very different risks. Where it is fixed by condition, get the lead time in writing from the supplier before the programme is set, not after. And where a scheme is still in design, it is worth asking the architect whether the brick that secured the consent has a domestic equivalent, while changing it is still a conversation rather than an application.

What this means for your scheme

• Find out whether your facing brick is imported. On current figures there is a one in five chance.

• Check whether it is fixed by planning condition, approved by sample, or merely indicated.

• Get lead times in writing before the programme is fixed.

• The risk here is time and planning, not the rate. Price it in the programme, not the brick.

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Sources. Building materials and components, GOV.UK, including brick import and production commentary for 2025 and the first quarter of 2026.