Accrington Brick mothballs production

The firm which made the world’s strongest bricks for the Empire State Building will be mothballed as demand for the product slumps.

More than 80 workers who produce the super-strength red Accrington brick in Lancashire will lose their jobs as production is closed down for 18 months.

Owned by Hanson Building Company, the firm will keep on a skeleton staff in the hope to ramp up production when the market recovers.

According to the Guardian report, Hanson has reported a 40% fall in demand for bricks in the past 18 months.

A Hanson spokesman told the newspaper: “This is the furtherest we’ve seen the brick market fall since just after the Second World War.

“We have had to take these measures to preserve the rest of the business.

“We couldn’t carry on producing bricks with nobody buying them. But there is still a massive pent-up demand for new houses, and it will come back.”

The bricks, known as Nori (iron spelt backwards), were used to build the foundations of the Empire State Building in the 1930s.