Michelmersh is excited to announce that from 1st January 2021, a core range of Floren’s popular clay facing products will be bought directly to the UK market.
Founded in 1896 alongside the Campine Channel in Brecht, Belgium, and acquired by the Group in 2019, Floren.be has been producing premium crafted products sought after by vanguard architects across Europe for many generations. Offering sustainable building solutions using modernised technologies, created with the smallest ecological footprint, Floren’s products are highly desirable to architects designing sustainable built environments. Floren’s high-quality clay facing bricks are compliant with the most stringent production requirements and are tailor made to the customer’s exact specification.
Aligned with Michelmersh’s four company core values, including a commitment to sustainability, Floren’s production methods and processes enhance the brand’s ethos and endorse its bespoke service.
Floren’s bricks are made using Campine Quaternary clays which imparts a high compressive strength and low water absorption rate, giving its products excellent technical properties. Alongside producing a brick of technical excellence Floren has sustainability at the forefront of its production processes. Surrounding the site, Floren has created a vast natural buffer to encourage the reintroduction of habitats and wildlife, whilst former quarries have been turned to fishing lakes that allow nature to flourish. The site has been furnished with 2500m2 of solar panels that deliver a large percentage of its electricity whilst consideration has also been given to water consumption with investment in rainwater harvesting.
Already renowned for providing bricks for prestigious award-winning projects, such as Chadwick Hall in Roehampton, shortlisted for a Stirling prize in 2018 and Birmingham University’s Conservatoire of Music, winning a 2018 RIBA National Award, Floren has developed a range of popular colours, textures and sizes which appeal to the UK market.
Floren offers an outstanding collection of beautiful, sustainable bricks, enhancing the current Group offering and adding further colours, textures and finishes to Michelmersh’s extensive collection. The core range available in the UK will include 20 products that can be specified and ordered for delivery, directly to site, from stock held at Michelmersh’s UK sites.
Frank Hanna, Joint Chief Executive Officer, comments: “The existing collection of award-winning Floren projects showcased across the UK, is testament to the popularity of these contemporary bricks working in unison with our built environment to enhance the local vernacular.”