Brickworks preparing to sell WA factory

Building products manufacturer Brickworks is gearing up to sell one of its Western Australian facilities, while also planning to restart its Cardup plant to maintain its production capacity in the state.

Brickworks, which trades under the Austral Bricks brand in WA, has lodged a development application with the Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale to bring the Kiln Road, Cardup, plant out of care and maintenance and back into production.

The plant has not produced bricks since 2012.

Brickworks WA group general manager Peter Scott said the redevelopment was a spruce-up of sorts for the facility, while it would also involve the installation of more stringent emissions controls.

“At the same time, with some new technology we can improve quality,” Mr Scott told Business News.

“Also, the clay that’s already on site at Cardup is very high-quality shale, so it moves us closer to the resource as well.”

Restarting the Cardup plant will allow Brickworks to rationalise one of its existing operations, which comprise manufacturing facilities in Armadale, Bellevue and Malaga, releasing land for residential or industrial development.

However, Mr Scott would not be drawn on which plant would be shut down and sold.

“There are people working on it at the moment, so it’s a bit sensitive, but we have various assets,” Mr Scott said.

He said the restart of the Cardup facility would allow Brickworks to maintain its WA production at current levels, while also preparing for a slowing rate of construction in the short to medium term.

“The next several years are going to be fairly tight for residential construction, and it is really preparing us so that in two years’ time we are ready with the best quality and sustainable product for the future,” Mr Scott said.

Flagging a redevelopment plan at Cardup was part of a quarterly market update by Brickworks, which recorded a 9 per cent rise in revenue for the first quarter of the 2015-16 financial year, compared to the previous corresponding period.

Brickworks managing director Lindsay Partridge said the company was on track to deliver another increase in earnings over the financial year.