The brickmaker that supplied The Shard has collapsed into administration amid a protracted slowdown in construction.
York Handmade Brick filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators on Friday, according to court records, and is represented by Addleshaw Goddard.
The manufacturer supplied 90,000 bespoke bricks to The Shard, which opened in 2013. The 87-storey skyscraper is predominantly glass and steel but has bricks on its first few floors, including a dramatic brickwork façade.
York bricks have also been used at London Bridge railway station, with 100,000 provided for the station’s overhaul ahead of its reopening in 2017.
Other projects it has been involved in include Magdalene College Library in Cambridge, which won the Royal Institute of British Architects’s Stirling Prize in 2022.
The company also supplied the bricks for the restoration of St Albans Cathedral in Hertfordshire, the oldest site of continuous Christian worship in Britain, the Westgate Oxford shopping centre redevelopment and York Racecourse.
Based at Alne, near Easingwold, the brickmaker has been running since 1988. It was founded by David Armitage, a fifth-generation brickmaker, and remains a family business. Guy Armitage, David’s son, is now the company’s managing director.
The company’s collapse into administration comes at a torrid time for construction suppliers and builders, as rising costs and a downturn in building heap pressure on the industry.
In a trading update on Tuesday, fellow brick manufacturer Michelmersh warned of a “notable slowdown” in the industry during the final quarter of the year.
Michelmersh said activity has been hit by a “challenging macro-economic outlook and the uncertainty of UK Budget policy announcements, which have adversely impacted both consumer sentiment and investment decision making”.
Builders were left disappointed by last week’s Budget, including Richard Beresford, chief executive of the National Federation of Builders, who said in the wake of Rachel Reeves’s statement that the “industry will remain in the mud”.
“Death by a thousand taxes has already killed off many businesses, with insolvency rates still high within the construction industry,” he said.
The construction sector shrank at its fastest pace in more than five years in October, according to the S&P Global UK Construction PMI index.
Brick makers are also among the industries struggling with high energy costs, and relief for manufacturers has been pushed back to 2027.
York Handmade Brick were contacted for comment, while Addleshaw Goddard declined to comment.
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