Started about 15 years ago, the Cast Iron Air Brick Company evolved from owners, Adrian and Amanda Budd requiring a large amount of cast iron air bricks for a grade 2 listed property they were restoring in Lincolnshire. The conservation officer allocated to their restoration was particularly enthusiastic that the build contained a couple of dozen authentic, cast iron air bricks all the same pattern. It proved to be such a hard quest to acquire the air bricks and so the idea of The Cast Iron Air Brick Company was formed. The restoration, by the way, was recommended by the local civic trust and submitted for inclusion in the Georgian Group “Urban Restoration of the Year” and Amanda and Adrian collected the runner up prize from HRH Duke of Kent at Christies, London.

Today the Cast Iron Air Brick Company supply cast air bricks and a huge range of ventilation grilles and gratings to individuals and the trade. We supply all over the world and have sold over £2million of air bricks and vents, many of them our own exclusive designs. We don’t supply imported grilles – British foundries are the only foundries capable of manufacturing authentic, quality air bricks and grilles that are suitable for installation in the worlds finest buildings so we only use English and Scottish foundries. Our foundries date from the 18th and 19th century and have been in business casting iron for all that time and also include our newest foundry (established in 1973!) BAS castings in Nottingham and also Fowler and Holden in Grimsby who we’ve recently commissioned.

Not only is it important to us that our customers receive quality castings that will last a life time but it’s also important that they’re made without destroying the environment and by folk working in safety and receiving a decent wage. All our foundries have to meet strict EU emissions criteria and, like us, wholeheartedly embrace recycling at every stage of the manufacturing process. This includes recycling the sand to create the moulds for the castings and using the vast majority of recycled iron as the raw material.
Melting iron requires a huge amount of electricity and therefore generates a significant amount of carbon. To offset this we have planted a 5 acre wood and calculate that the carbon absorbed from the 350 trees each year is equivalent to the amount of carbon our 6 foundries generate manufacturing our products – making the manufacturing process carbon neutral.
Our items are used to replace existing defective cast iron ware and are more commonly used in new builds. We are able to supply just one air brick and can also supply architects and developers with large quantities.