British stone suppliers Albion Stone and Hutton Stone have recently launched their Heritage Portland Stone Range. The bricks are cut from slabs of limestone and sandstone rather than being heated to high temperatures like traditional clay fired bricks, which means they have a fraction of the embodied carbon. The stone bricks are marketed as being one of the lowest carbon building materials in the world and were recently used in an installation at Clerkenwell Design Week.
The technical properties of the stone brick are equivalent to a Class B engineering brick. This means they are much stronger than conventional facing bricks and can be used for load-bearing applications, potentially offering a more sustainable alternative to steel and concrete in many building projects.