Adidome Ceramics Company, Volta Region, Increases Brick Production Capacity For Construction Of New Schools, Houses & Universities

Truckload of clay bricks leaving Adidome

Adidome Ceramics Company Limited; Ghana's leading manufacturer of fired clay bricks, roof tiles, pavers, brick slices and other clay products, is located in Adidome, the district capital of North Tongu District of the Volta Region. The company also has a sales depot at Kwashiman-Lapaz in Accra. The Adidome clay deposits are large and produce high quality bricks and roof tiles, which are ideal for houses, schools, hostels, hotels and universities.

To increase the brick production capacity a second brick production line has already been installed at the Adidome factory by the UK investor and put into production. A large-capacity brick kiln has also been constructed by the foreign investor to cope with this increased brick production capacity. This large kiln with six times the production capacity of the existing four kilns will soon be commissioned and placed into full production once new school projects in Volta Region start to use clay bricks. This new kiln has been designed to cater for the requirements of large scale housing projects and also the new universities and schools to be established in the Volta Region and also other regions of Ghana over the next few years. Following this large investment, the Adidome Ceramics Company hopes that all districts in the Volta Region will now finally start to use fired clay bricks in the construction of all planned new schools and universities. Adidome Ceramics Company can deliver bricks to all regions of Ghana and to neighbouring countries, such as Togo and Benin, where the company has already exported its brick products for two projects for the Benin Government.

The company's initiative to increase the brick production capacity in the Adidome factory is in line with the Government's stated policy to use more locally made building materials, such as high quality clay bricks, in new school and university projects. Adidome Ceramics Company's clay bricks are made 100% from local clays with no imported raw materials, which then gives an important direct benefit to the Ghanaian economy by reducing the very high percentage of imported materials used in buildings, such as schools, houses and universities.

The expansion of the brick production facilities by Adidome Ceramics Company will also increase the number of skilled industrial jobs for the unemployed youth of Adidome and surrounding areas of the Volta Region, which will then directly improve the local economy, as their salaries will be spent largely within the Adidome-Sogakope-Ho areas. The current labour force of 30 will be progressively increased to over 100 persons over the next two years, if all the Districts in the Volta Region start to use clay bricks for their schools, as is already the case in other regions of Ghana, such as Central Region, Brong Ahafo and Ashanti regions. Adidome Ceramics also has teams of highly trained bricklayers, who can train the block layers of contractors to bricklaying standards, thereby increasing the bricklaying skills throughout the country.

Kiln-fired bricks and clay roofing tiles are far superior to sandcrete blocks for the construction of university buildings and school buildings and for this reason all new universities and schools in UK, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Egypt and Sudan, for instance, are all built of kiln-fired clay bricks.

Clay bricks and clay roof tiles are:
• Strong and durable (clay bricks can last for many centuries, such as those in Elmina castle).

• Fired bricks are zero-maintenance materials with no re-plastering or repainting, which is an important factor in schools and universities to reduce future building maintenance costs.

• Energy-efficient (brick buildings with clay roof tiles are very cool and thereby do not require expensive air conditioning systems – the electrical energy saving each month is huge, which is an important factor in the operating costs of any school or university building)

• Aesthetically beautiful (brick buildings will always look beautiful and will give grace and grandeur to any university campus, or school besides being the perfect building material for the Ghanaian climate.

• Resistant to salt, acids and alkalis (brick buildings are ideal in coastal environments, such as Keta , Denu, Takoradi and Cape Coast, which have salty soils and a salty atmosphere. Hence salt warehouses can be built from clay bricks with no worries about corrosion. As bricks are not attacked by acids or alkalis, they are also ideal for the buildings of food processing companies, buildings in oil installations and other industrial applications such as petrol stations.

• Clay bricks are perfect for high temperature applications, such as hospital incinerators, bread ovens, pizza ovens and charcoal kilns.

• Clay bricks and clay roof tiles are the perfect economic solution for school and university buildings, libraries and large housing developments.