Performance benefits of blockwork include:

Innovation in this sector includes new systems such as thin joint blockwork but also in ancillary products such low conductivity walls, enabling this established method of wall construction to evolve to meet and exceed current thermal performance requirements for external walls.

Those designed for building fair-faced walls are available in a variety of colours and textures. Concrete blocks can be supplied to suit a range of wall finishes including plaster and dry-lining or simply a paint finish. Types of blocks range from ultra lightweight and lightweight aggregate through to dense aggregate blocks, with a corresponding range of performance properties. Many contain high levels of recycled content and are themselves 100 per cent recyclable. They are also commonly used below ground for basement construction or as part of the foundation structure and as part of a beam and block structural floor. External block walls may be fair-faced or rendered as part of a building or commonly as robust boundary and retaining walls in the landscaping. There is a well-established supply chain for concrete blocks in the UK, providing a readily-available source for construction. Concrete blocks remain the most common choice of material for the inner, structural leaf of an external cavity wall in contemporary UK housing. Concrete blocks are a cost-effective, and tried and tested means of providing load-bearing and non-load-bearing walls with many other performance and sustainability benefits.

Concrete block walls