Brickmakers boosted by self-build boom

Brickmakers have seen substantial rises in their profits over the past 12 months thanks to an increase in the number of people building their own homes.

One firm, the York Handmade Brick Company, saw its turnover rise by seven per cent last year to reach a record £2.4 million.

The Alne-based brickmaker said its success was down to a boom in the self-build sector, with growing numbers of people looking to design and build their own dream properties.

The company''s chairman David Armitage said: "The backdrop to these results remains our outstanding performance with the self-build sector, where we are now supplying almost £900,000 worth of material per annum."

The self-build sector has seen tremendous growth in the last year as property prices across the country continue to soar.

Research from Datamonitor shows there were 19,400 self-builds in 2005, 4.3 per cent more than there were in 2004.

It revealed that in 2005 the self-build mortgage market was worth £1.8 billion, although Datamonitor expects it to reach £3.6 billion by 2010.


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