Two million revolutionary bricks go into annual production

Brick made with 90% recycled content from C&D waste goes into commercial production

KENOTEQ Ltd – a clean-tech spin-out from Heriot-Watt University that specializes in low-carbon building products – are to start commercial production of their revolutionary, eco-friendly K-Briq to more than two million bricks a year in Scotland.  

Developed by researchers at the university, Kenoteq’s K-Briq is said to be made from over 90% of recycled construction and demolition (C&D) materials whilst producing just 10% of the CO2 emissions of a traditional fired brick. 

The company has recently been awarded £1 million in funding by Zero Waste Scotland to help get brick production off the ground. 

Sam Chapman (pictured), Kenoteq’s managing director, commented: ‘The construction industry faces a tremendous challenge when meeting decarbonization goals. The industry sends over 800 million tonnes of waste to landfill in Europe every year, at a huge cost to itself and the environment. 

‘With this funding, we will scale the manufacturing capacity from a pilot plant to industrial-scale production through development of a new manufacturing line in Scotland.’ 

Kenoteq plan to deliver the equivalent of 924 low-carbon homes across the UK over the next five years creating 15 new jobs in manufacturing, production, quality assurance, marketing and sales.

Iain Gulland, chief executive at Zero Waste Scotland, added: ‘Construction relies heavily on finite resources and presents huge potential for circular economy interventions to reduce demand for, and waste of, virgin materials.

‘Innovations like the K-Briq can help to tackle climate change, deliver a more competitive Scottish economy, mitigating resource security and addressing the subject of corporate social responsibility within the sector.’