Wienerberger Opens High Tech Concrete Tile Factory

BUILDING EVELOPE manufacturer, wienerberger UK & Ireland, has opened its first concrete tile factory in the South East.

Smeed Dean is a 7,800m² state-of-the-art production facility, based in Sittingbourne, Kent.

It has the capacity to produce 94 million roof tiles annually, enough for 32,000 semi-detached homes.

The new factory is purposely located to better supply the housebuilding sector in the South East, cutting around 200 transport miles from the company’s Yorkshire production base in Sandtoft.

The company says the investment marks a significant milestone for wienerberger, demonstrating its ongoing commitment to low-carbon construction, regional investment, and advanced concrete tile production.

When fully operational, Smeed Dean will make both Danum TLE large format concrete tiles and plain concrete tiles on two production lines, with capacity to scale-up production running 24-hour operational shifts.

Its production will be a pivotal part of wienerberger’s whole house retrofit offer, which encompasses complete roofing systems, renewables, battery storage, heating and drainage.

Building for What’s Next

Keith Barker, wienerberger Chief Operating Officer, said: “Launching Smeed Dean is
about more than expanding our national manufacturing footprint – it’s about building for
what’s next.

“Increasing our production capacity in the South and investing in decarbonised
operations have been key priorities for us, so it is extremely rewarding to see these cutting-edge production lines up and running to deliver products that will support the UK’s evolving housing needs.”

Embedding Sustainability

The site is wienerberger’s first fully electrified concrete tile facility, harnessing renewable
energy and embedding sustainability into every part of its operations.

Sustainability measures include smart lighting, heat recovery, a 10,000-litre rainwater harvesting system, and enrolment in The Pallet LOOP scheme to recycle pallet use.

The site was formally the location of wienerberger’s historic Smeed Dean brickworks, situated to take advantage of nearby transport links and easy access to shipped clay imports.

Now, the site’s re-purposing as a high tech facility has meant extensive training of the wienerberger team to support advanced and sustainable concrete tile production.

Social Responsibility

Alongside the £30m investment in the new factory, the company has reinforced its commitment to social responsibility by partnering with Emmaus, the homelessness charity.

A portion of proceeds from sales of the Danum TLE tile manufactured at wienerberger’s Smeed Dean and Sandtoft production sites will be donated by wienerberger to support the charity in its work.

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